Inferno
by Breviary-Rose
Summary: Lucifer Morningstar left. Chloe thought she could live without him. No choice, really. She had to. Her daughter needed a mother with a clear head. L.A. needed a detective like her on its side. The drunk driver changed everything. Again. - Begins 6 months after 2x13 [Lucifer / Chloe]; Intended for Rated M, but rating lowered. All lemons will be taken out as individual oneshots.
1. Ricochet

_THE INFERNO_

 **Synopsis:** Lucifer Morningstar left her. She'd relented to the fire he'd made her feel, but he'd just vanished without a trace. Chloe thought she could live without him. She had to. Her daughter needed a mother with a clear head. L.A. needed a detective like her on its side. Fate fooled her again when all she has left is struck by a drunk driver.

 **Author's Note:** Hello, _Lucifer_ fandom! I'm Breviary-Rose. Admittedly, I'm a very obsessed viewer who has way too many ideas for this show. I've had this idea in my head for a while, and I really wanted to share it. Please review to tell me how you like it! I'd really love to continue this story!

 **O**

 _ **Chapter 1**_

An awakening stirred her heart. Electricity danced across the expanse of her chest as she sharply inhaled. Bright lights masked the scene. Voices…she heard voices shouting all around her. Something fell from her left eye. It was wet, warm and fast down her cheek. Some sort of mask was slipped over her mouth and nose.

The lights didn't relent, but she felt a soft tough against her arm. "Miss Decker, you're going to be fine…" a voice distantly called as she induced into a mindless slumber.

 **O**

No, she was not going to be fine. Her whole body shivered as she sang the lyrics to "American Pie" poorly as she sniffled with her arms around her lifeless daughter. Her legs were scrunched, but Chloe made sure she didn't lay on any of the wires connected to Trixie.

The doctor had come in a few minutes ago. She had only two choices: take her off life support or keep her on life support and hope for a day that may never come. Tears fell from her left eye over the bridge of her nose to the pillow she shared with Trixie. Dan was still in a coma without life support. The decision was hers alone. Though he was in more stable condition than their daughter, the doctors still had no idea when or if he'd wake up. He had better chances than Trixie by miles.

"You sing the song so much better, Monkey," she said as she shook against her body.

No one would answer for this. The drunk driver died on impact. He'd apparently been a serial rapist and wanted in several states for murder. That man whose name she would never forget would never face what he'd done to her family. Tom Hatchings had lived a considerably long and healthy life. He was sixty-eight years when he'd rammed his eighteen wheeler in Dan's car.

Chloe swallowed, tensing as the door opened. Her eyes didn't even have to move to see her mother enter the room. Penelope Decker, whose eyes were red and puffy, appeared calm and stern. Chloe didn't move. She wouldn't leave her daughter's side. Her mother cleared her throat. "You know what you have to do, Chloe Decker," she said sternly.

The words stirred the boiling anguish and guilt – mixing them into a hybrid of emotions she was so unaccustomed to feeling. Chloe shook once more before steeling herself as she kissed Trixie on her forehead. She walked out of the room and down the hall, opening the door into the waiting room.

There were more people here today than usual. Amenadiel, Maze, Linda, and Charlotte sat in different areas, but still somewhat close. Chloe wiped her face, closing her eyes briefly before facing the front desk nurse. "I'd like to request a change in the visitor list for Trixie Espinosa," Chloe said quietly.

Penelope crossed her arms and huffed loudly. For a moment, she sniffled and approached her daughter. Her free hand touched Chloe's shoulder while the other one held onto the clipboard with a stack of papers. "That won't be necessary, ma'am," she corrected as she talked to the nurse.

Chloe balled her fists, but sighed. "I'm her mother, and I want to take off Penelope Decker's name, please." The nurse looked hesitant, but nodded before saying something.

"You're being selfish!" her mother raised behind her.

Somewhere in the weeks being in a hospital and having her whole world shatter, Chloe snapped. She grabbed her mother's hand and threw it off of her. She reached for the clipboard and threw it against the window. This rage was something she'd never seen in herself before. Only one person had given into his emotions so much, and she figured that was what she was doing now. There was a loud bang on the glass and Maze had to move out of the way so it didn't hit her.

He was gone now, and she had to focus on finding her check on her emotions again. Trixie and Dan depended on her to. She was their legal voices. She put a hand against her mouth as she looked at anyone but her mother. When no balance or peace came amidst the turmoil, Chloe caved against the sharp stab of anger. "You're asking me to kill my own daughter," she fought quietly.

"Think about someone other than yourself for a moment, Chloe. She'd be dead if you weren't keeping her alive. Her body has withered. It's time to let her move on into God's grace," Penelope countered.

Chloe sadly chuckled. "God?" she stated. The word felt like the poison that had so nearly taken her life months ago. Tears poured over her eyes. "God has no place here, mother. This is between you and me."

"God has a plan, my angel. He will guide her to a better place. You know I'm right," she miserably countered. When she stepped toward Chloe, the detective backed away with her hand out.

"I have a chance to save my daughter. I'm not going to give up on her. I'm not letting her go, okay?" she seethed. Her whole body was shaking again. "If He had a plan, He would have taken me instead of an innocent child's life. If He had a plan, Tom Hatchings would be facing me in court right now to face what he's done to my family."

"Chloe-" her mother consoled.

Chloe's hand flew up. "No! If He had a plan, I would be on that bed right now! If He had a plan, I would have a caved-in chest like Dan, brain damage like my damn daughter. _I_ wouldn't be standing here without any bandages or scars from the same accident! Nothing makes sense anymore! Not since Lucif-" she cut off. She covered her mouth. She hadn't said his name in over six months. He didn't matter right now. "What matters is that my daughter is still fighting this. Dan is still fighting this. For whatever reason, I'm here unscathed, and as long as I'm alive, those two will be, too."

Penelope shook her head. Her eyes were filled with tears, but she wasn't yielding on the subject. "We're going to talk about this another time."

"I'm done talking, mother. I'm a detective, and I help, save, and protect people. I'm not a murderer," Chloe said dangerously. Chloe neared her mother and looked her in the eyes. "Come hell or high water, they _will_ wake up. I'm here. I'm breathing. I've survived this long. I'm not giving up on my daughter and my ex-husband. I don't have anything else to lose."

With that, Chloe walked over the window and found the clipboard. Gripping the object until her knuckles went white, she bent her knee and broke the clipboard in half. She unlatched the papers from the clip and ripped them into pieces. For effect, she threw the pieces of paper and wood in her hands over her head until they snowed down over the area.

Her heart hardened. Somehow, she felt her shoulders square. For the first time in the months after the accident and the suffocating loss of Lucifer, she felt strong again. Hope and renewed strength washed away the suffering, the agony, and the anger. Chloe hadn't realized her eyes were closed, so she opened them and looked to the ground at her feet. Litter surrounded her. She dropped to her knees and started to pick up the mess she'd made.

Amenadiel knelt down and helped out. Meeting his eyes provided her a sense of safe harbor – refuge. She hadn't spoken or looked him in the eyes since the day she realized Lucifer was gone. His eyes were kind, understanding. Somewhere in those eyes, secrets started to shimmer into recognition, but she didn't recognize what any of them might be. She sniffled and looked down to finish.

"I have nothing more to say to you, mother. I love you, and you mean well; however, I'm asking you to leave. Don't come back until I've asked you to."

"Chloe Decker! You're asking me to walk away from my granddaughter!" she hollered, echoes sounding through the room.

As Chloe stood, she turned around and shook her head. In a moment like this, she needed him here beside her like he'd been at one point. Not knowing where exactly it had come from, she straightened and stood still. "You were just asking me to sign away her life. She may as well be dead to you," she firmly retorted.

She wasn't cruel, but in her weakness, Chloe needed Lucifer. He wasn't here anymore. She glanced away from her mother and piled the battered paper and clipboard on the information desk. "Sorry about that. I'll replace it," she said as she opened the door and walked through.

She needed to return to her daughter.

 **O**

"Maze and Amenadiel are with her for now," Chloe fought. Dan's brows furrowed, resisting her dampened cloth. "I'm not giving you a sponge bath, Dan. I'm just trying to get you comfortable. Stop fidgeting."

"I will when our daughter is awake," he gravely retorted.

Chloe sighed, "This isn't your fault, you know."

He looked at her like she was stupid. "Of course it is, Chloe."

"It was an accident," she corrected.

Another month was gone. She hadn't seen or heard from her mother in that time. Chloe couldn't find it in her to care for the time being. Her time was absorbed here at the hospital or at the precinct. While she wouldn't return to work full-time, she had been helping out other detectives on a part-time basis.

Maze had convinced her to do it. Staying at the hospital twenty-four hours a day all week had taken its toll on her. She'd lost nearly twenty pounds. She was barely eating in between doctor's visits and all the testing she'd signed off on for Trixie.

Dan had woken up three days ago. He hadn't talked to her much, but she didn't need conversation. She wanted answers, results, and one other human being who wouldn't come back to her. Thankfully, her busy schedule kept her mind preoccupied. Dan's doctor knocked and walked into the room.

"Mr. Espinosa," he greeted pleasantly. "You're healing spectacularly."

Dan groaned in reply, but said, "Enough about me. How's my daughter?"

"I'm here to talk about you, sir," he said, smiling. He glanced at Chloe with a serious expression. "His legs will need extensive rehabilitation as will his arms. He won't be working for the rest of the year – at least. His chest is healing as well as can be expected. He'll need to stay here for at least another month before we can begin treatment and rehabilitation."

Chloe nodded as she rubbed her hand on his shoulder. "What can we do to make him more comfortable?" she asked.

This had become their routine. Dan had no interest in answering or talking to anyone about him. Chloe quickly became his voice of reason. When he sighed, Dan stated, "I'd be most _comfortable_ if my daughter was awake."

"Her injuries are more extensive, Mr. Espinosa," the doctor replied.

His name was Benjamin Morrow. He was probably a few years older than Chloe. He was polite and quicker than the other floor doctors. Dr. Morrow was the one Chloe preferred looking in on her family members. He'd supported her through everything, telling her the best odds for Trixie waking up. She trusted him with her daughter's life; however, her recovery was still stagnated.

Chloe's patience with Dan had expired, so she'd walked out of the room while they chatted some about his condition. She needed coffee if she was going to stay awake any longer. Trixie's room was right by the break room where she got her coffee. There wasn't a nurse at the nurse's station. Her brow rose, but she moved on down the hall. Trixie's door was closed, despite Chloe always leaving it open.

Something was off, and something in the air shifted. She didn't have her gun. Technically, she wasn't supposed to have one on her at all. She was on extended leave. She swallowed and reached for a pen on the counter next to her. She swallowed once and moved near her daughter's door. The door was solid and had no peep hole on it. Instead, the room had a large glass wall, but the sheet was pulled shut.

She immediately put her hand on the handle and opened the door. "Trixie?" she shouted. Something black, bloody, and wretched leaned over the child. Chloe didn't have time to decide if it was human or something else entirely. She clenched the pen behind her. "Get away from my daughter!" Chloe stepped into the room, her back facing the glass wall.

The creature waved its hand toward her and some unseen force pulled her backward, her body forced through the glass. When she landed, her head bounced against the hard tiled floor a few times. Her vision clouded and her ears rang. Something pulled her back, and her head hit something behind her – something hard, either a wall or a door. Suddenly her skin felt like it was melting – on fire. Someone grabbed her by her throat and pinned her high on something solid.

The lights flickered in her hazy vision and she felt something thick and hot launch out of her mouth as she coughed. It was blood. She only heard a ringing that stifled the tortured screams her lungs roared. The grip on her neck tightened, and she started to feel her spinal cord wail in response.

She was going to die.

Trixie was going to die because she couldn't protect her.

Her vision went dark and suddenly, the ringing went silent. All she experienced was exquisite, acute pain on a cellular level. She felt like her body was being torn apart. She smelled smoke and sulfur. Quickly, she heard a child's scream.

 _Trixie?_ she thought.

A car horn blared as her daughter stopped screaming. The world went quiet again. Everything she smelled and felt was agony. She swore her eyes were open, but she saw nothing. The pain wouldn't end. It was an endless cycle of fire in her body. Quickly, she couldn't breathe anymore.

Everything vibrated and shook around her. In this dark cocoon, in the last moment of her life, she thought of Lucifer. Chloe felt his touch, a memory of what they'd briefly had. Her daughter and Lucifer replayed in her mind over and over until she felt her body hit the floor.

"You can wait. I've found you though," a dark, demonic voice sliced through the silence. The fire's bite faded away slowly. Over time, the screeching in her ears returned. Eventually, she was able to hear her own screaming. It sounded loud, but distant all the same. When the pain nearly subsided, her vision became cloudy again until she was able to make out flickering lights.

All of a sudden, someone badly scarred and skin so terrifyingly red lowered to her side. The man shouted her name, but again, it sounded loud, but distorted by a distance that wasn't between them. The voice echoed and rang over her until she heard Lucifer's voice. She blinked slowly and saw the red-skinned man lower closer to her face.

Something touched her lips. She shivered despite a wretched heat hanging in the air. She felt a thick layer of sweat all over her skin. She blinked her eyes open, and heard herself crying in pain – so _much_ pain. She swallowed and saw Lucifer's handsome face pull up. His eyes hovered over hers as she heard him say her name more distinctly.

Chloe heard her own breathing become louder and louder – until something pulled her into sleep.


	2. My Demons

_THE INFERNO_

 **Author's Note:** This chapter is unusually long. I don't expect it to be like this all the time. Enjoy this chapter! Thank you for your reviews!

 **O**

 ** _Chapter 2_**

Chloe shot up from the bed. Her chest heaved as she struggled to take in air. Immediately, her hands clutched her neck, the flesh there sensitive and stinging. She winced and lowered her hands. The room she was in wasn't quite dark. Light filtered through the blinds. Slowly, she registered she was in her room at the house.

"Ma–" she tried to call, but her throat was dry and cracked. She swallowed and winced at the pain the action caused. She coughed a little and turned her head down at the pillow beside her. Underneath the white covered pillow, a black leather bound corner of the journal peeked. She self-consciously pushed it back under the pillow to hide away from her for now.

Like each time she handled it, her eyes welled up. Her hands wiped away at her eyes. As she tried bending her legs to get out of the large, empty bed, she noticed little movement. Her brows lowered as she pulled the blanket away from her. Her ankles had gauze around them.

Chloe moved her hands to her head, as if they could jog her brain for information. They didn't, and she muttered a curse when all she remembered was that Lucifer was gone again, her daughter wasn't in the room across the hall, and Dan was still suffering from brutal injuries. To top it off, she no longer had her mother to help her through any of it.

She'd made the right decision. Chloe didn't want to be influenced by anyone who didn't agree with her. Pulling the plug on her daughter wasn't like deciding who the designated driver was for the night. Her mother had decided too quickly what the _best_ decision was. That frightened Chloe, and she _knew_ it was right keeping her mother away from not only Trixie.

That still didn't stop her from missing her mom. Just like it didn't stop her heart from breaking again for the first time that day – just like every day – to realize Lucifer wouldn't be here with her.

Chloe Decker was alone, and she needed to be okay with that. The detective didn't know if she'd write in the journal or not. It had been over a month, but not entirely by choice. The hospital was her home away from home, so she hardly spent time here at all anymore.

Carefully, she moved her legs toward the edge of the bed and whimpered as she put a little bit of her weight on them. "Damnit!" she cried. Her throat hurt, but the pain needed to be out in the universe. Her ankles were hurt and her throat burned. What had caused this?

The flashbacks of her being attacked at the hospital had been a dream. They had to be. Lucifer wasn't here, and he'd made it quite clear he wanted nothing to do with her. So what had happened?

She saw her phone on her nightstand, but she only opted to pocket it into her pajama pants. She didn't really need to know the time. It was early in the morning, and that worked for her. Coughing once more, she glanced around the room and saw crutches leaning against the chair in the corner by her bed.

If she could groan, she would have. Chloe carefully crawled across the bed and reached for them. As she positioned herself, she threw her body weight toward the wall to stand up. It hurt like hell, but she did it. It had been years since she used crutches, but after a few steps, she got the general gist of it. She just wasn't graceful about it.

She swung her way to the open door and hobbled around the corner. She paused and saw no one else in the house. Chloe swallowed and kept moving until she got into the kitchen, seeing dozens of roses standing upright in the vase on her counter.

Instantly, her belly felt heavy. They weren't from Lucifer. He wasn't here, she reminded herself. She slowly moved closer to them and paid no mind to the flowers. The card had been signed by Dr. Morrow. "Oh, geez," she hoarsely muttered. Her eyes glanced to the roses and instantly grabbed all of them, careful of the thorns, and threw them into the trash.

Chloe didn't want roses from anyone. She was fine without them.

Her body began to shook, and she noticed her vision become clouded by the tears that had become her daily routine. She hated crying, but she was helpless to stop it. In the corners of her mind, Chloe heard a familiar foreign voice, smooth and perfect. She didn't make out the words the voice called, but the presence of the voice made her heart both ache and feel comforted somehow. It was the greatest paradox.

Chloe knew then she needed to write in the journal today. It had become the only way to settle her thoughts on the matter. At least, it was the only way she could keep her thoughts straight for the day.

Trixie needed her at the hospital, but she knew she couldn't go in her condition. Maze often lectured her on the way she took care of herself. She knew she needed to recondition her body back to health. She'd return to work eventually, and she didn't need to take any more time than absolutely necessary to condition it back to her normal strength.

Things would be tight, but Dan would need to live here during his time out of the hospital. It would just be easier. She wouldn't need to go out of her way to pick him up. He wouldn't need to hire a part-time caregiver. They could go to the hospital for Trixie together.

Enough with these thoughts, she thought. Chloe withdrew her cell phone and dialed the direct number to Dr. Morrow's office. He should be getting in based on the time her phone said. After a few rings, he answered, "Chloe! I was expecting a call from you soon."

She shook her head. "Dr. Morrow, please call me Miss Decker," she corrected quickly. Her eyes wandered to the flowers in her trash. "I'm only calling to check up on my daughter and Dan." Talking was incredibly hard, she noticed. Her voice sounded so tired and groggy.

There was a pronounced pause. Chloe didn't care if he was expecting something else. Her only concern was her family. Otherwise, she wouldn't have bothered calling at all. He cleared his throat. "Of course," he started, "Trixie is doing as well as can be expected and Dan's showing signs of early release if his body maintains the good progression."

Chloe had no desire to stay on the phone with him any longer than necessary. "Thank you, Dr. Morrow."

She hung up quickly and dialed Dan's personal number at the hospital. When he answered, he sounded tired. "Yeah?"

"Tell me how long it's been since I've been at the hospital," she choked.

She heard him sigh. "Hi. Good morning. You sound like hell, Chloe."

It didn't take her long for her to roll her eyes. "Dan."

"Right," he began. He cleared his throat and continued, "You collapsed from exhaustion in the stairwell. Maze has placed you on house arrest until you are well enough to come back here."

Chloe narrowed her eyes. "Something's not right here. I don't remember any of that at all," she quietly told him.

Dan coughed, but hesitated to speak. "Listen, Chloe. It's been hard on you. You're dealing with too much. Stay home for a few days and rest. Do it for Trixie. She's not going anywhere, and neither am I."

"Is anyone with her?"

"Amenadiel has been a big help around here," he replied. "Yesterday the doctors let me sit up in a chair to see if I could handle being in a wheelchair. I'm seeing Trixie today!"

Chloe's eyes stung. She still managed to smile. "That's wonderful! Give her a kiss for me when you see her."

"You can count on it, Chloe," he sighed. "How bad does she look?"

The world began to shake under her feet. She had to move a hand to her mouth. She didn't want him hearing her. After a moment, she cleared her throat. "The bruises have healed somewhat nicely. She has scars on her face, so be careful when you kiss her. The doctors will get you up to speed on the rest. For the most part, you won't see anything but her face or her hands."

"Thank you," he muttered.

Silence filled the space of the conversation. After a few seconds, Chloe shook her head. "I need to go. I want to fix breakfast. Maze isn't here."

"She's probably making a coffee run or something. She was pretty adamant on locking up in your room for at least a week," he told her. "She'll be back soon."

"Get some rest, Dan," she said.

He hung up first.

 **O**

Chloe didn't write in the journal. She had the rest of the day to do so if she absolutely needed to, but she wanted to test her limits a bit. She needed space from him; however, that didn't stop her from eating her oatmeal on her bed while staring at the black book resting upright against her pillow.

The world didn't make sense. Nothing added up. Chloe couldn't remember falling in a stairwell. She didn't understand why her neck was bruised so much. She didn't understand why she'd so vividly remembered seeing him over her in those last moments of she speculated may or may not be a dream.

Things that made it seem like it had been a dream were as follows. No one at the hospital seemed to be concerned over her daughter's broken glass window. Dan hadn't mentioned it. Neither did the doctor. Cameras were everywhere on the floor except for in the rooms. No one had reached out to her from the precinct to inquire about it. Trixie seemed to be fine. Finally, she was alive. The dream had felt so real, but she also felt like she'd died.

Evidence in favor of being real included everything else – the bruises, her ankles, the clear memory of it all, and so on. The only thing missing was him. If it was real, Chloe couldn't think to what all of it meant. Her attacker hadn't been human. The only thing in the sequence had been Lucifer.

Nothing made sense!

A door opened and slammed shut. She quickly covered the journal up with the pillow again even though she was positive Maze knew about it. She heard keys land on the countertop and footsteps approach her room. A laugh cut through the silence lingering in the house. "Chloe, what did those flowers do to deserve a trip to the trash?" she playfully shouted. Her voice only lowered when she rounded underneath the threshold of Chloe's room. Her arms spread over her head and rested on the outside walls by the door. Maze leaned forward with a brow raise.

She rolled her eyes. "Doctors shouldn't send patient's parents stuff like that. It's unprofessional," she fought quietly.

"Lots of moms in heat would kill to get sent shit like that, Chloe," Maze countered. "It's truly curious to think it's unprofessional."

This sent a bolt of anger up Chloe's spine. She turned quickly and set her oatmeal on the bedside table. "I'm not interested in anything other than seeing my daughter wake up, Maze."

The other woman entered the room and lifted her brow. "He's pretty cute for a human. I'd play with him if he didn't have it bad for you."

Chloe's eyes met Maze's. She was trying to get a rise out of her. Chloe knew it. That didn't stop her from taking the bait. "I'm not interested in anyone, Maze."

The woman in black smirked knowingly. Chloe was thankful when she didn't say more. Maze walked closer to the bed and held her hand out to her. "You're eating something better than oatmeal. You look like shit. We need to fatten you up."

The detective accepted the hand and settled at the edge of the bed as Maze pulled the crutches to Chloe. When she was standing, Maze moved out of the room and went into the kitchen. She was out of Chloe's sight as she went at the pace of a turtle. As she moved out of the bedroom and into the living area, a figure standing by her front door caught her attention.

Every inch of her skin tightened and tingled. A light flickered within her chest. An unrelenting ache dulled underneath her ribcage. Her stomach flipped, and a spark in her soul tickled her. "Lucifer," she choked.

As quickly as it had left, all the pain crashed over her, taking away the warmth that had invaded her. The wash of recollection stole her breath away and left her feeling too cold to stand anymore. Her whole body shivered as the cool touch of anguish froze her heart again.

All the questions she'd asked him in the journal were frozen in her mind, unable to make it through her lips. Tears poured over her cheeks. She tried backing away from him, but the motion only served to make her nearly trip when her ankle rolled painfully. The left crutch fell loudly against the floor, but she clutched onto the right one for dear life.

When she was able to look at him again after steadying herself, she saw that he was closer with his arms outstretched and ready to catch her if she needed him to. Those days were supposed to be over, she savagely repeated privately. He'd taken away everything she'd given him. It was only now that she saw she'd given him her completely.

Chloe felt like a ghost. She didn't know who she was anymore. He couldn't just show up again unannounced when he damn well decided he could. Chloe couldn't survive him when he would leave again. Every cell in her body screamed at her to throw the crutch at him, turn and lock the door. Her body screamed, trying to ignite the fire underneath her feet; however, her mind held her hostage in place. The weight of its power was overbearing and she couldn't take any more of it.

Her knees buckled and she wobbled ungracefully as the crutch slipped from under her shoulder. Chloe collapsed under the weight of the last seven to eight months. A powerful wave reverberated across every bone in her body, and she trembled, unable to stop it.

He caught her before she was on the floor. Chloe threw her arms around him, her left hand clutching the tight fabric of his coat on his right shoulder and her right hand snaking underneath the unbuttoned coat to grasp the fabric of his button down shirt. He was real. He was here. He was in her arms again.

Chloe pressed her face against his neck and shivered against him as she sobbed. Lucifer hauled her upward until he guided her legs to wrap around his hips. He commanded her body, and it listened. She felt his hands cup the curve of her ass as he held her against him. Soon, he walked her back into a wall after moving a hand to the back of her head.

His body pressed against hers. Every muscle underneath his suit was hard and smooth. That's when she noticed that he was _hard_. Chloe needed to see him. She didn't believe he was here. When she pulled back, Lucifer followed her mouth until his met hers gently. Her eyes remained opened as they kissed, though her vision was clouded and puffy. She saw his eyes heavy with the same desperation and sadness.

Chloe didn't know why her hand tugged upward on his tucked in shirt, but it did. It seemed her body moved on its own without her permission. When the small section of his shirt was untucked, he moaned when her fingers touched the skin close to his fastened belt. She felt how hot his skin was as she moved her hand up his tight, muscular back.

He _was_ real. She felt him as clear as day. He was here.

He held her in place as he stared up at her against the wall. Everything came into focus. She realized he wasn't controlling this either. Something passed between them. He peeled her from the wall and carried her inside her room, slamming the door shut.

Lucifer never let her go until she was softly deposited on the bed. He hastily pulled off his suit jacket and threw it across the room. He charged down over her body and moved his mouth over hers expertly. He moaned and breathed heavily against her body. Her hands took over and began poorly unfastening the buttons of his shirt. He lowered her hands and ripped his shirt open, not bothering taking the shirt off in his hunger.

Chloe's hands moved to the buckle of his belt and shivered as he growled against her ear. A hot tear traveled down the side of her face as she stared up at him. His eyes darkened, which intrigued her seeing as how his eyes were already so dark. Lucifer bit down lightly on her chin and moved his mouth over hers again.

His tongue met hers and everything shifted again. He pushed her harder against the mattress and pressed more firmly against her mouth. Chloe noticed her shivering hands had unlatched his belt. She moaned as he grinded himself against her center. She lifted her chin and tossed her head back, exposing her throat to him.

Lucifer reached for the exposed flesh a bit too roughly. His burning touch sent flashes of pain in the area, and she sobbed as she raised her hand to cradle her neck. Her eyes closed, and she felt her eyes water again. In an instant, he pulled off of her. She managed to open them and see that he was against the wall. His hands were tightly coiled, and he was shaking. As he exhaled, his shiver broke it up into loud abbreviated and broken sighs.

Chloe struggled to sit back up, but she did. His stare never left hers. His shoulders were moving up and down as he struggled to breathe like her. In a moment of shyness, she crossed her legs. Her ponytail had broken, and now her hair spilled over her shoulders.

After a moment, he lowered himself against the wall to sit on her floor. She watched him swallow before he quietly said, "I promise this isn't how I wanted this to be." His words, she thought, meant so many different things. Chloe focused on what had just happened, though.

Self-consciously, she pulled her hair over her right shoulder and played with the ends. Why couldn't she speak?

He stayed away from her and continued to struggle for air. "Chloe, I just wanted to talk. I came here to tell you everything – not to maul you." He adjusted against the wall. When she didn't reply, he groaned as he panted. "Say something – _anything_ – please?"

"I believe you," she whispered. It had been so long since her last haircut. The ends of her hair were split and frayed. Chloe quickly became aware that, when she'd observed herself in the mirror earlier that morning, she'd looked like hell. Her eyes filled with tears again. She hadn't wanted him to catch her looking so sickly. She could feel her ribs now, and she didn't want him knowing how much she'd been broken without him. "What are you doing here, Lucifer?" she asked, surprised at the anger attached to the words. She felt so abysmally lost right now.

"I've placed you in danger, Chloe, and I realize that leaving you alone without my protection was the stupidest thing I've done in all my immortal life," he quickly answered. His eyes were spilling over with so much emotion and tears. He shook his head as if he was lost.

Chloe coughed, but managed to raise her voice loud enough to shout, "What are you even talking about? What danger?"

A tear moved down his face as he locked eyes on hers again. "Chloe from the first moment I met you, you've not been safe. I left for only one reason, and I've fought and tortured myself over it the last half-year," he explained.

"You aren't making any sense!" she countered. She wasn't ready for this. Chloe wanted nothing more than to leave, but she wouldn't make it off her bed without touching him again, so she was stuck. "I don't understand how you could have left me after everything we've been through," she brokenly uttered.

"Believe me when I say that I will pay for that decision every day for the rest of my life," he murmured. He brought his hand to pinch the bridge of his nose while closing his eyes. "I left because I found out something I didn't know how to handle."

That sliced through her stomach. "It was something you couldn't handle with me?" she choked.

His eyes hardened and he stood up, quickly kneeling before her. He took her hands in his and lifted a hand to her face. He searched her eyes a bit before saying, "I love you, Chloe." He held her in place when she tried to snap away from him. "I've never been in love before. I've never wanted anyone the way I need you."

"How could you leave me, then?!" she shouted. "How could you just leave me in that hospital room after almost dying? All I wanted was you, and you were _gone_."

Lucifer ignored his tears and pulled her closer to him on the edge of the bed. He had no problem doing so. His strength was something she'd always found remarkable. Now, though, she found it to be annoying and much like a cage. "I left because I thought I had to prove a point to my father. I also didn't want your affections if they were just a part of some plan of His," he brokenly uttered.

She grabbed his collar and felt like strangling him. "I told you my feelings were real! You thought I'd lie about something like that?"

When he shook his head, he sealed his mouth over hers briefly. "You'd never lie to me. I know that, detective. You're the only thing so clear in my life, the only person I trust so completely. Never think I doubted _you_."

"Then I still don't understand how you could be so cruel to me…" she quietly cried.

He wrapped his arms around her, and she let him. He pressed his lips against her hair and sighed against her. "There was no way for me to explain anything to you without revealing who I am to you. I didn't have the courage to do it," Lucifer said, shaking. He pulled back and kissed her nose. "I still don't have the courage to make you fully understand who I am, but I'm left without a choice, detective."

She sniffled. "I'm tired of saying that I don't understand, Lucifer…"

He paused, opting to just look at her from his position. It seemed to satisfy him to have her in his arms again. He pushed back some of her falling hair behind her ears. For the first time since arriving, he smiled like an idiot. His smile only distracted her for so long before she saw a buildup of tears coating his eyes. She reached for him and took his hands in hers. He shuddered as his tears poured down his face.

"Chloe, I've never been so terrified of anything in all my life."

"You're shaking, Lucifer…what do you have to fear?" Chloe soothed. She reached for his chin and slowly moved her lips to his. He met her with as much gentle force until he pulled away.

He closed his eyes and leaned his forehead against hers. "Chloe," he started. He sounded like saying her name gave him a boost of strength. "Do you believe – at any point in our time together – that I've lied to you?"

She moved her hand to his hair and stroked the groomed thick locks of dark hair. "No," she answered with a conviction she didn't know was there anymore.

He looked up to her. "Do you remember when I told you that I'm from hell – that I'm the devil?" he asked.

Chloe pulled away from him. She never really understood why she didn't consider it a lie. In all the time together, he'd never shown signs of being delusional or a method actor. He had ways that didn't always seem totally reasonable. At some point, she'd moved passed this. She'd not exactly forgotten about it, but she didn't spend much time thinking about it, either.

He moved toward her, placing his mouth near her ear. "Close your eyes, my darling," he instructed.

He pulled back and claimed her mouth again with a gentle ferocity. Chloe kept her eyes closed as he requested. He tapped his tongue against her lips, and she immediately opened for him. He moaned again and grabbed her shirt to pull her closer to him. Their tongues touched and moved in sync in such a maddening, aching way. She arched her back into him.

Chloe needed to touch him again. He was here; he was real. He was safe, she added. She moved her hands to cup his jaw. His skin there was rough from the stubble of his facial hair. With her eyes still shut, she moved her thumbs closer to his eyes and wiped at each of them, the moisture there hot an unforgiving.

He pulled away from her ever so slightly, and she caught herself almost whining. He pecked her lips quickly. She still had his face in her hands. "Do you think I'm capable of harming you?" he asked suddenly. When her eyes started to flutter open, he kissed at her eye lids and said, "A promise is a promise, darling. Keep them closed for me." She felt him swallow before tenderly whispering, "Answer my question, Chloe. It's the most important question I'll ask you today."

Fear tickled her belly, but she shook her head. "N-no."

She felt him grab her hands into his. "I know I've exhausted your patience and crushed your trust, but do you believe that I'd never intentionally hurt you or your heart?" he questioned. His voice sounded more confident and sure of whatever he was struggling with. He lowered his lips delicately over the bruises on her neck and quickly pulled back as she gasped. "I know you'll need to expand your answer beyond the single word I seek, but we'll talk about everything, darling. I'm not leaving you again."

She swallowed. He _had_ hurt her – from her perspective – intentionally. By not coming to her with this sooner, he'd shaken her trust in him so deeply. For a while, she wondered if it was repairable. She thought about Trixie. She thought about Dan. She thought about the poisoning. After everything she'd suffered, her heart already knew that she'd lost enough. What they had would be repaired. She only needed time to heal. From the sound of it, he did, too. "No," she answered weakly.

He sadly chuckled. "I'll work every day to reinforce your faith in that answer, Chloe. I promise you that I will one day be worthy of you."

"Lucifer?" she called when he went silent.

When he kissed her this time, she noticed the texture of his lips had changed. He must of have noticed she'd noticed. He lifted his hand to touch her, but she didn't recognize the grooves and ridges of his touch. Chloe couldn't help it when her body pulled away from him slightly. He let her go, too. "Meeting you was my honor, Chloe. Loving you is my purpose. Protecting you is my burden."

"Lucifer?" she shook.

"I'm going to ask politely that you do not scream," he replied. His voice sounded distorted in a dramatic but subtle way. He kissed her again. "You're so obedient right now. I expected you to hit, kick, or scream at me."

" _Lucifer?_ " Chloe whispered. Fear settled over her. Though visibly shaking, she moved in closer to him again. He released her hands when they itched to move to him. They did, and her tentative touch revealed what felt like burns, scars, and other mysteries over his face. She wanted to stroke his hair for some reason, but as her hands rose, she felt nothing except more burns or scars. "Tell me again how you feel," she quietly asked. Those words seemed to give her the strength she needed earlier – even if she still didn't fully understand everything that had happened with him.

He delicately brushed his fingers over her throat. The feeling was still a bit sensitive, but Chloe managed to lean into his rough touch. "I love you, Chloe," he complied. "Look at me, my darling," he eventually added. "We have no more time. There's too much to tell you."

"I'm scared, Lucifer," she whispered. Her hands were still on him, and he made no movements to pull her away. Chloe shook, mirroring how he felt. Timidly, she pressed her lips against his again. After a few seconds, she opened her eyes to meet his. She pulled away, but didn't move. Chloe moved her right hand from him to cover her mouth.

Lucifer's eyes were blazing and red. She softly mewed, but didn't lower her eyes from him. He let her search the hellish, fiery eyes. He didn't move. Chloe used the hand on the back of his head to move to his cheek. She was crying, speechless. Those weren't his eyes, but at the same time, they were. The expression on his features wasn't menacing. They were fearful and loving. He gradually raised himself to stand, towering over her. He joined her on the bed again and leaned back against her headboard. The vibrant red eyes became distorted with moisture. "Chloe," he uttered urgently.

The weight of her name on his lips forced her to lower her eyes to his exposed chest. It looked like his body matched the same horrors on his features. Her eyes were wide. Her hands shook; however, she inched her palm to rest on his chest above where the heart of a human should be. She was crying harder. She unhurriedly crawled closer to him, eventually straddling his hips. "Tell me something, anything, before I break my legs trying to run from you," she quickly muttered. Chloe didn't want to run, but her body would soon take over again. "I don't want to run from you," she pleaded.

As her eyes flashed back to his, his skin quickly shifted back to the man she knew. "I don't know what I could say to keep you, but I know I'm never letting you go again." Chloe sank into his chest and cried against his exposed throat. He reached his arms around her and rubbed her back. "I'm never leaving you again, Chloe. We both have no choice in the matter."

She pulled back, her eyes meeting his again. "What?"

"When you were poisoned, I had to die to get into hell in order to get that recipe for you. I was nearly trapped there for all time until my mother saved me. When I came back to you, I'm not sure how, but a few demons got loose. They're after you in order to kill me."

 **O**


	3. Don't Let Me Go

_INFERNO_

 **Author's Note:** Another long chapter, but I really enjoyed writing this. I'm exploring a bit of angst like I feel this story needs. I want this story to dive headfirst in what other stories may overlook. Our dear Lucifer isn't just some sexy devil looking for some nookie, after all. Please enjoy, and review! They seriously keep me in the zone for writing! I haven't updated a story like this in a long time. Thank you!

 **O**

 _ **Chapter 3**_

The warm water fell unevenly over Chloe's body. The fluid liquid held her hostage underneath the showerhead. Her bent arms leaned on the tile of the shower and her forehead leaned against the wall. Despite the warm mist invading every inch of the bathroom, the wall was cool to the touch.

Three days had passed. Her ankles healed by end of when Lucifer had revealed himself. It was all moving at light speed. When she reached out across a figurative space, nothing stayed still enough to grasp onto anything. The ground she stood on felt fragile, unsteady.

The bruises on her neck were gone, too. They'd disappeared by the next morning, which was spent away from Lucifer and Maze. The detective wasn't avoiding them exactly. In the perfect world she rarely imagined or deluded herself with, Chloe was stronger than this. Trixie was keeping her head level. Someone was after her. By extension, they were after her family.

Lucifer was immortal. He'd told her that throughout their partnership. There was a reason she never ran away from him when he said stuff like that. As she further examined the truth, she never had bothered to be disturbed by any of this. Hell, Chloe had fantasized about Lucifer's proverbial – and apparently stereotypical and highly false – horns. All of what he'd said had once turned her on – at least the Chloe in the dream space.

For a moment, she wished she could be bolder like that dream Chloe. At some point, she'd lost the ability to feel alive by another person. As a detective, she faced death more frequently than the average human. Dan, at one point, had been her beacon of strength and love. Now, they'd comfortably settled into an unbreakable friendship. Before the accident, Trixie had told them that they had felt more like a family than when they were married.

Chloe's heart repaired because of her daughter. In a dark moment after Lucifer's disappearance, Chloe reflected about a world where she was never born. If that were the case, Chloe would have broken completely. Trixie was the light in her life. Each and every day with her was a gift.

The water gradually became colder over her body. In response, her body tightened and her flesh was covered in goosebumps. Things would be complicated for a long time. Things with her family would never be the same. Things with work would never truly return back to the routine she'd grown comfortable with.

Lucifer had left her alone during the day since his reveal. Chloe hadn't exactly asked for space. He just knew she needed it. She only saw him each night before she fell asleep. The first night, he hadn't touched her. He'd just sat against the headboard and talked to her about superficial things – nothing dangerous or complex. The second night, they'd held hands. Last night, he'd finally held her.

Every morning, she woke up in a cold sweat shouting his name. He was always there to take her in his arms. She hadn't cried again. Chloe was tired of being sad all the time. Trixie would wake up. She just couldn't be sure when. Dan would be okay. That was important to Chloe. Lucifer would be here tomorrow, though Chloe doubted the credibility almost every morning since his return.

This business of being the devil, celestial beings being real, and demons being on her ass had proven too much for her to handle. That's when she realized she could only take things one day at a time. Each time she woke up, she schooled herself on her goals for the day: keep faith that Trixie will wake up, help Dan the best she can, protect her family, help others, and get through the day again.

Honestly, that had become her new routine for the last seven months.

Lucifer complicated more things than she'd like to be complicated for the time being, but she knew a few things as clearly as she knew she loved Trixie. Chloe trusted him with her life, but at the same time, she couldn't emotionally trust him. Not yet. They had a connection she could never explain. She just knew she needed him, which was why she'd taken his abandonment as hard as she had.

Chloe never ran from the truth. When her father was murdered, she had been certain of only a few things. She was going to miss the man every day of her life. She would always think about him. However, she knew her life would guide her to happiness again. That's what her dad always told her. Keeping faith that life would lead you to happiness was something that had always been with him.

After all, her parents were never supposed to have had her. And they had.

She wasn't ready to admit to loving Lucifer, but she did. That first day he'd told her many things. He told her that he used to think their feelings were only a part of his dad's plan. He had never blamed her for being a part of it, but he had hated that she'd been dragged into the greatest family feud of the universe. When he'd saved her, he apparently felt overwhelmed and confused. Chloe could see his side, but the pain was still there.

He may be able to save her by dying and going straight to hell to undue her fate, but he couldn't erase the uneasy heart that beat underneath her chest. Chloe knew she needed to heal.

 _One day at a time…_ It had become a source of strength in Trixie's absence.

Chloe exhaled loudly and rubbed her face as she backed away from the wall. Maze had gone to Lux with Lucifer again this morning. As she stepped out of the shower, Chloe caught the time as she poked her phone. The day was still early.

Maze shouldn't be back for a while.

Chloe could feasibly escape for a few hours without anyone really looking for her. The towel she wrapped around her body did nothing to stifle the small chill in the house. She swallowed. They weren't stupid. Lucifer said something about demons looking for her. He wouldn't just leave her alone. Someone would be outside or nearby.

Chloe was comforted and annoyed. She bit her thumb nail and rubbed her shoulders before heading into her room. She rolled her eyes when she threw her closet door open. Opting for flat knee-high black leather boots, dark skinny jeans, and a plain white shirt underneath her black leather moto jacket, Chloe braided her hair over her left shoulder.

Exiting the room, she saw the intricate note on the counter about a breakfast Maze had made. A smile touched her lips. Some things wouldn't change. Chloe pushed toward the door. Today would be the first day in a long time where she would decide what she did with her life.

Turning the knob and opening the door, the detective exited the rented house. As she turned to lock it, she saw Amenadiel sitting in a chair on the small porch. Their eyes met and remained still as they regarded the other's presence.

"I'm going to the store to pick up a few things if you want to come with me," she offered. Chloe wasn't exactly wanting to invite him, but she knew if she didn't he'd just make a big deal and try to stop her. Amenadiel had been good to her over the last few months, and he didn't really deserve a hard time.

He nodded once and stood as she turned the key in the lock. "What's on the list?" he quietly inquired. He followed her to her car a few steps away from her side.

"It's time I tell you my big secret," she started, her eyes dancing with a hint of mischief. She opened the car door and sat in the driver's seat. He joined her in the car, and glanced over to her with playful interest. "I want to crash the Lux tonight," she told him. Chloe hadn't planned on saying that, but now that she had, she realized it sounded like a great idea.

He lifted his brow and chuckled once. "If you're asking for my help, then I accept that challenge," he said.

Chloe smiled somewhat. "You really don't have a choice," she replied as she started the car. She pulled away from the house and drove down the street with no particular destination in mind. "I suppose you do, though."

"How do you supposed that?" he asked lightly as he looked out the window.

She glanced over at him and shrugged. "Free will and all," Chloe joked.

Her reply made his head turn back to her. His eyes watched her closely. When her eyes returned to the road, he shifted in his seat. "You're taking this all so well. I've wanted to ask you if you need to talk about it. I'm here if you'd like to," he offered.

After she swallowed, she nodded. Her eyes moved to him and snapped back to the road. "I decided that I need to take one day at a time. Until my daughter is awake, I don't have the luxury of losing my mind," the detective answered. Checking her rearview mirror, she quickly looked at him again. "You've become family, Amenadiel. You've been a friend to me and Trixie even though you're dealing with your own problems."

"I have a lot to atone for, too, Chloe," he muttered. "Helping you is the obvious choice. Otherwise, I'm not sure what I'd be doing with my life anymore."

Chloe switched lanes and sighed. "I'm sorry for everything you've had happen on your path to here, but I'm really glad you're here, Amenadiel," Chloe softly said.

His eyes moved toward the road. "The offer always stands, Chloe."

She looked to her right mirror and replied, "I know."

 **O**

"Dan, I'm not talking to you about this anymore," Chloe fought, clutching her phone tightly. "Things are already unimaginably hard for me. I need you getting better, so stop worrying about me. Okay?"

Dan laughed irritably. "You keep saying shit like that, Chlo. I don't like that you're so willing to forgive someone who hurt you like he did. Lucifer wasn't there for any of the times when you cried yourself to sleep, keeping Trixie up until she called me to come help you," he angrily explained.

Chloe rested her elbow on the window to her left in her car with her fingers lightly over her lips. She shook her head and sighed. "Dan, I know what he missed. I know everything you did to help me. I haven't even become comfortable with him here. He's just here to try to find a way to move forward. Please just try to get some rest. Give Trixie my love," she quickly said.

"Chloe," he started loudly as she hung up.

Lux was booming loudly. It turned out that Lucifer had no plans on coming to her tonight. Maze had confirmed her suspicion with a text saying so earlier. He was using her needing distance as an excuse to run away in his own way again. That's what Linda had said when she'd called her earlier about meeting her here tonight.

Chloe didn't like the idea of surprising him like this. Lucifer hadn't been ready to come back to her when he had. She knew it was only the threat on her life that kept him here at all. That's why Chloe found it hard to think about letting him back into her life again. He was unsteady and relentless in his path going against the grain of his father's plans.

She swallowed. It was ridiculous. Chloe didn't have time to skirt around the truth. Her daughter's condition was a daily reminder. Time wasn't as an unlimited resource as he pretended. It didn't matter that he was immortal. Coming to L.A. had proven that time and again. She didn't know why he was so resistant to their connection.

In the beginning, he'd said she was resistant to his charms. If that had been the case, how could he think she didn't genuinely love him? They stood at two opposite ends of the same blade. She knew she loved him, but wasn't ready to say as much. Chloe was ready to face the truth, though. Lucifer had already said he loved her. He just wasn't ready to face the truth of what their connection was. She knew they couldn't figure this out alone.

He'd proven that for seven months.

She opened the door and softly smiled to the valet man standing close by. She lifted her hand delicately to place the keys in his hands. "Hello, again, Miss Decker," he said.

He was familiar, but she couldn't think of his name. She nodded and said something in thanks. Maze would be genuinely disappointed. Chloe had dropped Amenadiel at the club earlier that afternoon. She'd convinced him for just a few hours alone. He'd graciously given it to her.

She'd gone home after driving around aimlessly for a few hours with him. For the most part, they'd remained quiet. It had been nice to get out of the house. She figured Amenadiel had spoiled the plan to Maze. They'd spoken over the phone for a few minutes. The demon wanted her to wear the red dress buried in the back of Chloe's closet.

The detective had quickly refused. Crashing the Lux had two purposes: getting loose enough to enjoy herself for _one_ night and bridge the gap Lucifer was creating. Getting laid wouldn't be in the cards for some time, Chloe reflected. At least, not until she could fully trust him again.

She wore her black fake leather jeggings and a loose white shirt with a cobalt blue cardigan unbuttoned over her shoulders. She wore light brown ankle boots. She would be the most under dressed woman here, but she had never bothered about that before. Dressing up would only give him more ammo to further push her away. That's why she wore no makeup –as if she did on a regular basis already – and had no jewelry on. Her hair was down, though. On the hunt for that recipe, he'd told her she'd looked beautiful. That had made her feel invincible if only for a moment.

She clasped her hands together in front of her as she walked into the club. She had her phone in her pocket and the few debit cards and license in her other pocket. Her eyes scanned over all the Brittanys present despite the early hour of the evening.

The club was alive with a soft twist of a heavy bass and eerie guitar. It was almost too loud, but then it always had been on the second floor for some reason. Chloe moved to the black rail as she overlooked the lower floor of the club. The lights and constant movement from the bodies below made it hard, but she finally found traces of the people she knew would be here.

"I didn't realize your healing would be so quick," a man called from behind her.

The voice was behind her, and the music was loud. Chloe wished her moving toward the stairs would prove to be a method of escape. However, it was not to be. A masculine hand grasped her arm by the elbow. The natural reaction was to turn around.

Dr. Morrow's bright green eyes hovered high over hers.

Chloe didn't mimic his efforts of checking out her attire. She focused her eyes on his as she firmly said, "Dr. Morrow, please let me go. I have somewhere I need to be."

Her words seemed to amuse him for some reason. She watched him swallow – almost triumphantly. Nothing about him made her skin crawl, but his hand on her skin made her feel uneasy. This was the man who would medically save her daughter. She needed to be delicate, but she wouldn't sacrifice her principals.

"Miss Decker, I'm surprised to find you out and about. You haven't been by the hospital this week," he continued. He didn't move his hand, but he eased the pressure a bit.

It was enough for her to pull herself from him. Chloe glanced around them and didn't see anyone – not even workers – she knew. When her eyes moved back to the doctor, she noticed he was too close. She stepped back, but he followed her until she hit the railing. "Dr. Morrow," she began.

"Call me Ben. We're not at the hospital," he said. That's when she noticed he was quite possibly drunk. His breath didn't reek of alcohol, but his eyes were slow to keep up with her movements.

She cleared her throat and shouted over the music. "I need to leave. Have a good night, Dr. Morrow," she firmly countered. Chloe eased away from him, but she felt his hand on her shoulder as he followed her down the stairs.

He told her something, but she didn't hear what. When she took the last step, she turned around, but saw that he was leaning down. She backed away easily and forced her hand out between them. "I'm asking you politely this last time, Ben. I'm really not looking for anything with you or other human right now," she choked.

Her voice was somehow even and firm. She was thankful. She backed away. This time he didn't try to touch her. He did make a move as if to follow her. She instantly moved through the crowd toward the bar. Down here, the music wasn't as piercing, and she heard him grumble a bunch of excusing remarks as he passed the people behind her.

There was an empty stool at the bar, and she claimed it quickly. The bartender wasn't familiar, but she asked, "Do you know where Lucifer is?"

The reply wasn't heard over Dr. Morrow bending low over her ear, saying, "Who's Lucifer?"

She remained as she was, her eyes on the bartender. "Lucifer is the owner of this club. Dr. Morrow. You're drunk. You're my daughter's doctor. I really don't want you to get hurt," she gently explained. She turned her head toward the piano stage and glanced back at the bartender. He just shrugged.

Where was everyone?

She cut through the crowd again and climbed up the small riser to observe the downstairs. Someone used her hips as grips as they climbed up onto the stage with her. He took her by the elbows again and tried pulling her close. He was getting clumsy and staggered a bit. "Was that a threat, detective?" he playfully hollered.

Her eyes rolled. This was getting old. Fast. Why wouldn't he just leave her alone? She backed away from him, but he continued to follow her. She felt the edge of the stage, and glanced back, seeing no way for her to easily sneak away that way. When she turned her head again, he was trying to kiss her again. His eyes were half-lidded, but she noticed something familiar.

His irises were expanding with the blackness of desire. It was the same hunger in his eyes as the women who looked at Lucifer. She swallowed and looked around. No one was here. She was on her own for now. She pulled away with relative ease. Chloe moved her hands on his arms and ushered him backward. He tripped down, but caught himself sitting on the piano bench.

"Detective, you're absolutely stunning," he muttered as he pulled her between her legs.

Chloe shook her head and tried to back away from him, but he held her by the backs of her thighs just below her ass. His hands lifted higher, but she used her hands to stop them. This was the man who would medically save her daughter. She couldn't just toss him aside. What if he refused to help Trixie? The excuse was weak, but her fear for losing Trixie was growing in its power over her.

"Please stop. I'm saying no, Ben. Please," she fought. Her whole body shook when he glanced up to look at her fully. His pupils were dilated and his smirk was punctuated with a profound perverted force. Her eyes began welling up. She was choking. She felt her whole body clench.

The only thing she was in control of right now was making sure his hands stayed off of her ass and his lips remained off of hers. He looked like he was no longer in control, and that frightened her to her core. Was this how it was when women looked at Lucifer? How could he give into such a dirty, filthy experience? This wasn't desire. This was torture.

"The things I want to do to you," he twistedly chuckled. He pushed off the bench, and in the process, pushed her backward. She had no room to catch her footing, so she tripped over herself. She may feel the impact of her fall and may bring down other poor partygoers down in her wake, but at least he wasn't touching her anymore.

Hands caught her by her waist. Although the strong hands were entirely familiar, she still fidgeted away from them. Ben's eyes were in her head and she fought against Lucifer as he tried to still her. Her whole body shivered, and she squirmed away from him, but he was quick to catch her. He moved his hand on her chin and forced her to look at him. "Chloe, you're safe now," he assured. She saw him swallow hard, but his eyes never left hers as he stroked her face with his tender fingers.

After a moment, she settled down enough for him to turn around. He reached for Dr. Morrow's collar and brought him down from the piano stage. "You do not touch things that are not yours, doctor," he warned. Chloe saw his fists shook. "I suggest you exit my club not return."

Ben glanced at Chloe with the same disgusting look in his eyes, but Lucifer shook him roughly, and his attention returned back to the devil himself. Chloe watched Lucifer's hands as the doctor started screaming bloody murder. All those times someone would scream their asses off around him when she was out of view. She'd seen it for herself.

Why hadn't she lost her mind like everyone else? It's not like she didn't want to. Chloe couldn't bring herself to fear Lucifer, though. She clutched Lucifer's jacket by his hip. "Pip, pip, doctor," Lucifer sadistically warned.

Ben didn't spare her a last look as he ran out of the club. The tears in her eyes overpowered her control. They fell. Lucifer turned to her and claimed her hand as he directed them through the looking crowd. The music hadn't stopped, but their drama had collected an audience. He took her to the elevator. After pressing a button, he brought her into his arms. Although she felt safe, the moment was spoiled by what had just happened.

"What's happening to me?" she quietly asked.

He rubbed her back and brushed through her hair. Her temple felt the hard swallow at his throat. He didn't speak. Her whole body trembled underneath his arms. Her eyes stared at the wall of the elevator as he placed his lips against her throat. "Detective, please say something. I desire nothing more than to dismember him limb by limb," he begged.

Her brain had limited higher function for the moment. So, she stayed quiet. She felt him fester a dark anger in his chest with a growl. Chloe shook her head and pulled away from him, bringing her nose to his. She lifted her hand to his jaw. "Shh," she whispered.

Her eyes remained open to his. A stray tear dropped from her eyes, and he gently caught it with his tongue, brushing it softly and all too quick. He pressed her into the wall and heaved deep, loud breaths as if he was having a panic attack. "I'm so sorry, Chloe."

When the elevator doors opened, he straightened and pulled her away from it. As willingly followed him. He let her hand go when they entered the main living area of his apartment. She saw Amenadiel, Maze, Charlotte, and Linda.

Self-consciously, she wiped at her eyes and sniffled. Lucifer went to his bar and poured himself something all the way in his signature heavy glass. He quickly chugged the liquid down and coughed lowly as he threw the glass at the nearest wall. When he turned back in her direction, she saw that his expression was pained and his eyes were glossy. His shoulders moved up and down, as if her were tormented.

If he wasn't going to speak – if any of them weren't – Chloe decided she would. She directed her full attention to him. "Is that how it felt like with all of them? All of those Brittanys across the ages?" she acidly choked.

Lucifer stared at her with his mouth open and closing several times. His eyes were overwhelmed by the tears in his dark eyes. Both of his hands moved to mess his hair. All he did was stand there staring at her as his hands drifted lifelessly down by his side. "I'm so sorry, Chloe," he repeated.

She swallowed and quickly decided she couldn't look at him anymore. She shook her head and stormed off back to the elevator and pushed the button. The whole room remained silent. She only heard the sound of someone shifting their feet as the clicking of high heels sounded all over the apartment.

Lucifer could have his distance if that was what he so wished. A fragment of her was tired of chasing after him all the time. All he ever did was tell her she didn't understand or run away from her and into the arms of another woman.

Her eyes dropped two tears down her face, but she quickly wiped them away. The elevator door dinged. She coiled her hands. She couldn't fucking run. For a moment, she truly believed that running away could actually be brave. She hated that she questioned her morals so quickly.

Chloe stood still as the doors opened. She stared at the empty elevator much like she had when she left his apartment after realizing he was gone. Shaking her head, she straightened her shoulders. By the time the doors started to close, she turned around and walked back to where she was. "I'm not going to run from this," she quietly said.

Lucifer had a life before her. He was just like anybody else in that regard. She had Trixie. Neither of them had the perfect, clear answers of how the hell this was going to work. For the millionth time that day, she needed a reminder. "We're taking this one day at a time," she added, looking to Amenadiel.

His bulky frame stood as he nodded to her once like before. His eyes held a small smile. Her eyes lowered to the table, seeing already opened liquor. They'd been up here. Why hadn't she just come up here? Why had Ben needed to ruin her night? She'd answer these questions later.

For now, she moved to the table and poured whatever it was into the glass. The glass had lipstick on it, but she didn't care. She chugged it down much like he had. Chloe nearly gagged, but she righted herself as she shook her head again. She fell to her knees and poured the liquor into all the glasses around the table. She slid the glass she'd just used down to Linda, who wore the same color lipstick.

"Thank you," Linda weakly replied.

She turned back toward Lucifer and moved toward the bar. She rounded the corner and glanced at all the bottles. Her mind couldn't be bothered with reading any of the labels, so she looked for the most interesting glass and poured it into two glasses. She rounded the bar and moved to Lucifer. "I never thought I'd be drinking with a bunch of celestial beings," she evenly muttered. The corner of her mouth lifted slightly. He stared at her with an abysmal expression, but he didn't move.

She heard a few laughs behind her and a few of the others chatting. When Chloe extended a glass toward him, she waited for him to take it. He didn't, though. She moved to the bar and let her hands rest on the bar. She sipped her glass and looked over to the shelves behind the bar. She wouldn't leave his side.

Eventually as the talking grew louder, she saw him move toward the bar, but he was facing the others and leaned down on the bar on his palms. He'd placed one of his hand a few inches from hers. Chloe moved her eyes on his hand. Their fingers inched toward each other in sync. When she looked back up to the wall of liquor, a small smile lifted her mouth. Their hands would ease for a moment and stay still for another, but eventually, he closed the gap and lifted his hand onto hers.

There they remained for a few moments until the others pulled them into whatever conversation they were having.

 **O**


	4. I Don't Wanna Live Forever

_INFERNO_

 **Author's Note:** I wasn't planning on updating this for the third day in a row, but I kept writing through the day. I hope you enjoy this chapter! Please review! It means so much to me! :) Hope you all had a lovely weekend!

 **O**

 _ **Chapter 4**_

The lights blasted across the club. Trashy hip-hop or club music blared to every corner of the large club. Maze laughed stupidly along with Chloe while Linda and Ella held hands and swayed to the music. She'd admit it. Chloe was drunk. It felt glorious and freeing.

Maze reached an arm around Chloe and spun them in the small space they claimed in the center of the dance floor. The detective nearly quacked with laughter when her foot swept into another group of girls. Maze set her down when the girls appeared as if they'd approach Chloe. Stepping in front of the detective, Chloe watched as Maze smiled expectantly as she cracked her knuckles playfully.

Linda broke away from Ella. "Oh, god! Nope," the blond said as she intervened. When Maze glared at her, Linda sighed. "I think we need a break."

"I can't believe you snuck away from Lux!" Ella praised. Her eyes were on Chloe. The detective couldn't find it in her to investigate the curious traces of Ella's thoughts in her eyes.

The detective was having fun for the first time in forever. She wasn't thinking about the accident, Lucifer, or Dan. Chloe Decker was laughing and snorting ungracefully with the women who'd become her closest friends over the last half-year.

"I feel so good right now! He looked like he was t-minus five seconds from talking to me about all the stuff I don't wanna think about right now!" the detective almost whined as she explained.

When they got back to their table, Maze threw herself on a stool and chugged whatever glass of alcohol she could find. Her dark skin radiated the soft pink neon lights in an outlandish way. Chloe shook her head as she glanced over to Ella.

"Do you think he'll come find you?" she asked.

Maze chucked back another shot and rolled her eyes. "Chloe asked to sneak out to get away from Lucifer. Why are we talking about him?" she groaned. Even in the mood lingering over the girls, she managed to quickly peek around the area. She'd been doing that a lot tonight.

Linda nodded and looked away from Maze with a playful smile. "Let's continue our little game, shall we?" she suggested.

Maze whined and let her head fall on the table. "That's _not_ what I call a game, ladies."

Ella chuckled breathlessly. "Whose turn was it to start?" the short woman questioned through her buzz.

Linda squinted her eyes and glanced at Chloe. "I believe it's Chloe's turn," she snidely said with a sly smile.

The detective shook her head as she leaned over the cradle her forehead with a hand. The alcohol was wearing off right about now. She sighed and followed Maze's strategy. Her features scrunched like they always did with straight liquor. "Why does vodka taste worse the drunker you get?" she complained.

Ella pointed a finger at the detective. "There's no way you're getting out of it this time, Chloe."

"I could be torturing someone in hell right now," Maze sulked as she turned her attention to Chloe. "If you're actually going, this could turn interesting."

Chloe sat there and glanced around at them helplessly. Eventually, she held up her hands and sighed. "Fine," she conceded. "What was the question we were on?"

"First sexual encounter," Ella reminded. "We've been on this one for three months!"

Chloe snorted. "My daughter's been in the hospital!" she laughed. "I can't just go out and drink with you when stuff like that happens!"

Maze growled, "Just answer already!"

With an eye roll, Chloe exhaled. "You're not going to believe me even if I answered," the detective quietly warned.

"You were in that one movie! Was it with a sexy, hot older actor?" Linda speculated with a brow raise. She shifted in her seat as she waited for the answer.

Chloe shyly glanced around at everyone. Biting her thumb nail, she murmured something intelligible.

"What?" Maze and Ella shouted over the music. All of them leaned in to get closer despite that the round table was already pretty small.

Chloe glanced around the bar and watched the dancers. When she returned her attention back the others, she shrugged. "It was with Dan," she admitted. "It was sweet and wasn't rushed."

Maze looked at her like she was in physical pain, "Oh, Lucy's dad. Please tell me you didn't wait to be married to the guy."

Chloe lifted her chin as she sat back. She took a deep breath and narrowed her eyes. "I so wish I was sober enough to lie."

Maze burst into laughter. Ella smiled sweetly. Linda backed away from the table and swallowed as she studied Chloe like she always did. Chloe glanced around innocently. "What?" she demanded.

"How many guys have you fucked since dear, old Dan?" Maze bluntly asked. She was smiling as if she already knew the answer.

The detective narrowed her eyes at her. "I've been with on dates with other guys," she countered.

Ella chimed in joyfully. "You see, Chloe. Dates aren't…sex. I hate it when people say it so crudely. It makes it sound so dirty and shameful," she mentioned while looking at Maze with a funny expression.

Maze defensively leaned over the table. Her scarred brow lifted. "That's the only way it's supposed to be," she retorted with a small frown.

"Let's let Chloe explain, ladies. No need to start another one of these long debates that turn into buzz kills," Linda chided. She picked up a glass and swirled around the contents in her hand she gave the detective her undivided attention.

"It's really not a big deal," Chloe defended. She crossed her arms. "When Dan and I split up, Trixie and work were all I had time to think about – especially after Palmetto Street," the detective clarified. Her eyes moved over the others. They weren't satisfied, and she sighed, defeated. "Fine. I've only ever been with Dan. Sure, I tried getting back out there, but when I'd go home with them, it just felt like something was off. I don't know. It's not like I didn't try."

Maze groaned. "If you didn't get laid, Chloe, you _weren't_ trying."

Chloe scoffed and pulled back her head. "By the time I was ready to _try_ , Lucifer had barged into my life and then Dan and I tried to rekindle our marriage," she said plainly. As she scanned the others, she rolled her eyes and shifted her gaze back out to the dance floor. "Consider my buzz officially killed," she quickly added. "Thanks, ladies."

As she turned around, Chloe gulped as she stared up at Lucifer. He reached for her arm, his fingers sliding slowly down from her elbow to her fingers. After a moment spent staring down at her hesitantly, he lifted her fingers to his lips. "Detective, if you wanted to spend the night being naughty all you needed to do was ask," he quipped near her ear.

He dipped his head in toward her, but only placed a small kiss on the bridge of her nose. She blinked up at him and opened her eyes slowly. Something clear, yet unseen passed between them. Once again, when he noticed it happening, he pulled away from her. However, his hand remained on hers.

He turned to look at Maze. "I doubt I need to tell you about the dangers lurking about the streets," he passively rebuked.

When her eyes met his, Maze rolled them and sighed, "Lucifer, these _dangers_ I'm familiar with. You can't keep her locked away. You know that."

"I was just about to call it a night," Chloe steadily said. Lucifer didn't look at her, though. He stood next to her, his hand in hers, yet he was so far away. Her eyes flickered down at his hand when he pulled it away as he inspected a glass on the table. The three other women shifted their attention to him.

The detective threw her gaze over her shoulder and hesitantly stepped back from them. Quietly, Chloe backed away and the group's chatter became nonexistent as she rushed toward the exit. The detective wasn't running away from him. In the months of his absence, she'd cried too much, and she was tired of it. His pulling away from her was nearly as much torture as him being away.

They'd once shared a conversation when he'd shown up at the funeral wedding murder. He did, in fact, show up looking like a homeless magician. He'd looked so lost and aimless in his actions. For someone who nearly always had a specific intent in all he said and did, she'd found it hard to ignore the obvious cry out for help.

He'd rejected any help from her, though. Lucifer swore she'd never understand. She assumed he meant him in general. Whatever he'd gone through had broken him in a way she'd never been exposed to. Though they'd had some kind of connection from the start of their partnership, Chloe thought that he'd eventually open up to her.

It was not to be.

The look in his eye was similar to that day and exact conversation. He may not intentionally be hurting her, but he _was_ hurting her. He'd lived millennia before she ever existed. Considering his life and history with hell, she could see where he would think that.

He just had no right to tune her out because she wasn't born into his family of celestials. He had no right to punish her for being human. If it had mattered as much as he acted like it did, why had he bothered getting to know her or coming back?

Chloe was a lot of things: patient, forgiving, understanding. She was also a lot of other things. Right this moment, she felt unsteady. Her whole world had been turned upside down. She was forced to question everything she'd ever known to be the truth. Something about her was changing.

The accident had nearly taken Trixie and Dan from her. In this same accident, she'd been thrown from the car, rolling nearly fifty yards away across the oncoming traffic. The memory afforded her to recall that after a moment when her vision cleared from the impact, she'd stood up and ran across the street.

Dan was stuck in the seatbelt, and Trixie had been caught on something Chloe couldn't see. The car had caught fire, and Chloe had been able to pull both of them from the car, though she remembered being really fatigued afterward.

Chloe had called the station for help. She'd been the one to pull the drunk driver from his overturned truck. He'd died before she could get him to talk. Chloe had been the one to perform CPR on her dying daughter until the paramedics arrived. The whole front of her body was covered in a cocktail of Dan and Trixie's blood. The warmth of the blood seeping beneath the layers of clothes she'd worn. It had stained her skin. She'd only fainted when she was being stretched into the ambulance.

Chloe was outside of the club. That's when she noticed she was hyperventilating. The detective closed her eyes for a moment to calm herself down. When she opened her eyes, she gasped and tripped against the wall of the club as she watched a car slowly inch toward her. She felt an exaggerated wind pass by, slow and steady.

When she looked at the people in line to get into the club, she watched them as none of them moved regularly. It was as if time had slowed down. She stumbled away from the wall and raised her hand to view it.

What the hell was happening?

"It's as I feared, detective," Lucifer quietly spoke from behind her. She heard him move toward her until his chest barely touched her back. He swallowed loudly, causing her to turn her head slightly so she saw his broad shoulder in her peripheral view. "Dad has _blessed_ you with immortality," he bitterly choked. Against her body, he shook, barely trying to hide his contempt. "So much for free will, huh, detective?"

He stepped to her side, and she watched him with wide eyes. She met his heated gaze and gulped nervously. "Why are you pulling away from me, Lucifer?" she asked.

"Don't be ridiculous, detective. I'm standing right in front of you," he assured, his anger replaced by his traditional wit and charm. He shoved his hands in his pockets and pivoted his nose up slightly as his eyes narrowed.

Chloe challenged him and stepped close to him. Her hands grabbed his dark suit jacket. "You know what I mean, Lucifer. Please don't act like a manipulative devil right now," she begged.

He pulled away from her and threw her hands away from him. His head lowered until he was almost level with her eyes. "Ah," he exaggerated. His eyes gave away the emotions he felt, but his expression countered everything his eyes communicated. "You see, detective, this is what I've been for nearly my entire life. I'm afraid I'll always be a manipulative devil," he spat. He straightened and glared down at her. "I'm sorry to disappoint."

"This isn't you," she swore, stepping closer to him. He wore a disgusting grin as he stepped away. "Why would you bother returning here pretending to care about my life if you're going to act like a child?"

His expression darkened, and he reached for her. Shoving her against the wall of the club, he put his hand on her hair and her jaw. His nostrils flared as he exhaled deeply. He just stood there searching her eyes for what felt like hours. All too suddenly, he relented and shrank against her, leaning his forehead against the brick building behind her.

"I feel like I'm going to spend the better portion of the rest of my life apologizing to you, Chloe," he told her, his lips moving close to her ear. He shocked her when he took her ear lobe in his hot mouth. She immediately moaned and wrapped her arms around him. He pulled away from her quickly, his eyes catching hers again. "Chloe, my father put you in my path to show me what hell is like for mortals, I'm sure," he confessed.

"What are you talking about, Lucifer?" Chloe asked against him. She leaned her head against his neck.

He straightened his spine slightly and smiled brokenly. His hands moved so that he held them flat against her back, his fingers fanned and spread out. "You're too good for me, Chloe. There's no pedestal needed for this argument," Lucifer argued. "I have done nothing to deserve you, and after all this time, you're precisely what I need."

"Lucifer," she started, but he quieted her by kissing her gently.

He released her and spoke against her lips. "You're not in any way tainted or corrupted in the way I've had to be," he continued. His fingers touched her face softly, and she was memorized by the sweet, small grin he sent her way. "It's not fair to you what I've done with the thousands of others I've been with – and for what reason other than carnal desire on my part?" he desperately shook.

He pulled away from her and moved his hand over his mouth. His dark eyes watched her as she stood still. "You don't deserve any of this. I've always wanted to tamper with His precious creatures. I'd play with them – all the little games in their heads. I've been blamed for everything. ' _The devil made me do it_ ,' they always say. Those whom I fucked were just faces, Chloe." His jaw shook and he looked away when the tears in his eyes overwhelmed his waning control. He backed away from her even more and nearly fell against a stalled car behind him. "The weight of your goodness nearly pulls me back to hell, Chloe," he uttered.

His hands moved to his hair, and he shuffled them around, messing up his usually perfect and groomed mane. His shoulders quaked. "I'm not worthy of you, detective," Lucifer swore.

Carefully, the detective walked over to him, stopping only about two feet away. Chloe wanted nothing more than to tough him, hug him, or love him. A force within her heart nearly collapsed her control as it seemed to dart toward him. She swallowed once and took a deep breath. "I've never made a deal with the devil before, so sorry if I'm not doing it right," she murmured. She'd been staring down at the street between them, but she lifted her shoulders and straightened her spine as her eyes blinked back upward toward him.

When he looked over her with curiosity, she continued, "What do I need to do for you in exchange for a kiss?"

His features flickered from sadness to interest. He straightened and pushed himself from the car behind him. He stepped closer toward her. They still didn't touch, but he'd moved closer. He narrowed his eyes. "You would strike a deal with the likes of me without knowing how it all works?" he questioned, obviously seeking something she couldn't register in her answer.

"Lucifer, I have Trixie. I know I can't just follow you into hell if that's what you're asking, but I trust you to know that you'd never ask me to do that," Chloe answered softly.

He took another step. Her belly filled with anticipation and her mind electrified her body with a new brand of excitement she'd never experienced. Lucifer slowly raised a hand to her cheek. She leaned into his touch. He said nothing in return.

She drew her brows together. "Lucifer, what do you desire more than anything else in this life?" she amended. Something in her soul shifted silently, comforting her somehow.

He blinked a few times, but he stared at her like he didn't know who she was. When she extended her hand between them, she held his gaze. "I'm not sure if anyone's bothered asking you that. I'm hoping you can give me a straight answer," the detective reluctantly added. She bit her lip and blinked once.

Lucifer studied her for a moment. Swallowing, he stepped closer to her, but did not take her hand. "Detective, I desire our connection to be real," he whispered as he brought his forehead to hers. As he closed his eyes, Chloe's eyes focused on his handsome features. "Chloe, my father made me question this. My response was abhorrent, but," he paused. Lucifer opened his eyes and his brows twitched together for a second. He took her hand. "I have never been at the receiving end of this sort of bloody affection. Hell, I've certainly never felt it for anyone. I thought that by feeling what I do, my dad sought to control me through you. The thought of Him using _you_? I lost my mind, detective."

Chloe swallowed again and smiled. _I love you, Chloe_ , he'd told her. Her heart trembled with trepidation and uncertainty. The detective tightened her fingers in his and noticed her smile brightened as it stretched over her lips. "Lucifer, about what you told me in my room – about how you felt?" she started.

When he began to pull away, she pulled him toward her. She moved her free hand to the back of his head, her thumb rubbing the edge of his hairline. Lucifer shifted under her touch a bit, so she quickly added, "I feel it, too." Chloe hated that she couldn't provide him with the full truth as he mostly desired. She just wasn't ready. She hoped it was enough for him for now.

"Detective," he smirked. Lucifer said it just like he'd said it when she'd kissed him on the beach.

Chloe mirrored his smile, suddenly introverted and awkward. Biting her bottom lip, she lowered her head to rest on his chest. The beat of his heart seemed to bounce against her. "We have to take this as slowly as needed. I've had enough of being sad. I want to return to work. My savings is nearly wiped due to the accident and taking extended leave," she said. Her spine ushered an even shiver across her body. Chloe wrapped both arms around him, her hands joining at the small of his back. She closed her eyes.

Lucifer cleared his throat. "I've been thinking about Detective Douche and the little urchin. They're, for reasons I still don't fully understand, important to you. I'd be happy to set up private healthcare at your house, so the urchin can be as comfortable as can be expected. It would actually be easier to watch over them while protecting you," he suggested roughly.

The detective lifted her head to argue, but Lucifer held his finger over her mouth. "Ah, detective. I shall have to punish you if you dare bring up taking my quote _charity_. I hate the bloody word," he explained quickly. "Now that you believe my big unsecret, I'll have you know that I, as the devil, know no such word."

Chloe only nodded. "Dan should be released in less than a month," Chloe said.

Lucifer stepped out of her hug and pulled the fabric of his suit coat and brushed the fabric for good measure. "I shall begin the preparations," he answered, somewhat distracted. When her brows moved closer together, he smiled sinfully. "Now that we've sorted out your life's messes, I'd like to tastefully discuss bedroom rules."

The detective looked away, her eyes looking up and one lid closing halfway. "Lucifer," she ranted. She began walking toward the general direction of the lux, and he quickly caught up to her, eventually turning around and walking backward through the people still moving in slowed time.

He pulled down his sleeves and sent her an innocent grin. "I only have one. Do _not_ bring my father up during," he triumphed. Lucifer turned around when she raised her fist to him. "Detective, I see we're going to have some fun between the sheets."

"My, God, Lucifer," she chuckled loudly, "You're impossible!"

"See! _That_ was good practice for what _not_ to do during our naked cuddle time!" he pointed out.

The detective's head shook as she tried to hide a smile. As they continued to walk down the street, she noticed his car. Distant chatter sounded in the background, and the cars returned to normal pace. She glanced around. "This will take some getting used to."

 **O**

The detective entered Lux wearing a red plaid shirt and some skinny jeans with her usual moto jacket and knee high boots. Though it was still early in the morning, Chloe decided to pop by to pick up Lucifer. She was going to see Trixie and Dan, and she wanted him to tag along.

Trixie had always like Lucifer. Even when she'd explained to her he'd left them, she always remained quite positive that he'd return when he was ready. Trixie was too wise beyond her years. The car keys were shoved into the pocket in her jacket as she descended the stairs to the main floor of the empty club.

Last night, they'd gone their separate ways under the pretense of moving slower than they were tempted to. Chloe needed him in ways she was just beginning to understand, but she still wanted to be close to him. He'd only returned a few days ago.

"Good morning, Charlotte," she greeted, her chipper mood somewhat reflected in her tone.

The woman glanced up at her with concern on the surface of her eyes. "Chloe! What are you doing here?" she rushed, getting up from the stool she occupied.

The detective moved her hands into her back pockets as she moved toward the other woman. "I thought we were past beating around the bush. What's wrong?" she offered, her stomach tightening somewhat.

"Lucifer wasn't expecting you, Chloe. I'm sure he'd want a bit of time to clean the place up after last night's festivities," Charlotte warily answered.

Chloe stopped in her tracks, nodding distractedly. Casting a dark glance toward the main elevator, the detective scoffed and narrowed her eyes. "Take my keys. My gun's in my car, and I shouldn't be left with the idea in my head," Chloe spoke as she handed over her keys to the other woman. Fists clenched, the detective stalked over to the elevator and pressed the button.

Charlotte neared and followed her as she entered the elevator. "What are you going to do?" she curiously asked.

The detective released a furious breath. "I'm going to clean up Lucifer's mess," she retorted. When the doors opened, she nearly ran out and rushed over to the bar where she knew the tongs would be. Chloe rushed into the kitchen and grabbed one of the pans in a cupboard as well as a wooden spoon. The detective slid the tongs in her jacket pocket. When she quickly emerged from the kitchen into the main living area, Lucifer caught sight of her and greeted her with a cheerful grin.

The detective ignored him. He called her name several times, but she remained silent. Her eyes scanned around the apartment and found pieces of clothes discarded around the place. She set the pan and wooden spoon on the table by the couches and withdrew her tongs. She collected a few dresses and rushed them over by the elevator, throwing them without care at the doors.

Lucifer stood still and that's when she realized Amenadiel next to him. "Good morning, Amenadiel," she cheerily greeted with a warm smile. That smile fell as soon as she found several pairs of matching bras and panties scattered across the apartment. She scoffed, not bothering to hide the disgust in the guttural noise. She threw the undergarments off the tongs and toward the elevator. She used the tongs to grasp purses, jewelry and other objects belonging to other women.

She shoved the tongs into her back pocket and rushed over to his bathroom, turning the showerhead on to the hottest temperature setting. She went into his linen closet and procured a large towel for him and hung it near the shower on a hook. Chloe rushed back out to the living room and glanced over to the pan and wooden spoon.

Time to enact phase two.

She grabbed both and moved up the stairs in his bedroom. Three naked women splayed across his bed. Chloe loudly banged the spoon against the bottom of the pan. "Nap time's over, kiddos. Your parent's will start to wonder where you all ran off to," she shouted.

The girls reached for the sheet and shrieked. "Who do you think you are?" one of them pressed in a total I'm-so-hungover whine. Chloe twisted the blinds to allow the sunlight seep through. Each of the Brittanys squealed and covered their eyes.

"Get up, and get the hell out," she warned. When none of them complied, the detective jumped onto the bed and began hitting the pot again. The three women screamed loudly and finally showed progress, but it was fast enough. Chloe tossed the pan and spoon aside and withdrew the tongs. Chloe reached with them to one of the girl's right ear. Tightly holding the top of the ear, Chloe began to escort the girl over to the elevator. "Get dressed, and leave," she ordered.

Chloe rushed back over to the other two and held out the tongs. One of them ran past the detective and the other held up her hands, "We get it, you crazy bitch! We're leaving!"

She didn't watch them dress. Chloe used the tongs to guide each corner of the sheets on the bed free. Eventually, the elevator door opened and shut. Chloe used the tongs to pull the sheets behind her to the floor in front of Lucifer. Her attention turned to Amenadiel. "I don't care if you have to kill Lucifer again to drag these sheets to hell, but I want them burned," she instructed. He nodded and struggled to hide his shit-eating grin from Lucifer. The detective turned to Charlotte. "Sanitize this place. I'll pay you back. I owe you like forty-five favors anyway," she commanded.

Finally, her eyes moved to Lucifer, whose eyes were wide with curiosity. "Detective?" he questioned quietly.

She swallowed and pointed toward the shower. "You have ten minutes to deskankify your body and join me in my car. I'll be waiting downstairs," the detective fumed. She turned toward the doors of the elevator and pressed the button. While she waited, she pulled her hair up into a bun and moved over to Charlotte to grab her keys. The woman held up her hand and Chloe slapped it as she quickly turned on her heel again. The familiar ding signaled, and Chloe looked at Lucifer for a final time. "No more," she seethed. Tears threatened to spill, but she remained in control for once in a very long time.

He searched her eyes for a few long seconds before softly answering, "I understand, detective."

 **O**

"Detective," Lucifer called from the passenger side seat. His eyes were fixed in her the whole way to the hospital. She hadn't told him their destination. When he'd entered her car, she held up his coffee and bag of kolaches to him without a word. As she'd pulled away, he began trying to annoy her to answer him.

He'd repeated the word detective about fifty times in the last three minutes. She supposed he finally had enough silence, because he reached across the center consul to poke her in the ribs. "Ow! Lucifer!" she groaned. "It's not safe to distract the driver, you know!"

"Yes," he started with the same level of flirtation he normally laced in his tone, "I also know it's not all that safe to be carting the devil across L.A."

Chloe scoffed and used her mirrors to change lanes. "You're so full of yourself," she fought loudly.

"Of course, I am, detective. I've had a millennia to practice and perfect," he sarcastically assured. "Why are you ignoring me? You're the one who burst into my apartment like a deranged lunatic."

The detective laughed angrily. "You know what, Lucifer. I'm running out of patience. Yesterday I told you somewhat how I felt. You've told me you _loved_ me. Why on earth would you choose to be with other women after last night?"

Lucifer's smile died and he shifted in his seat, replying weakly, "Detective, you said we had to move slowly."

Chloe shook her head and stared over at him, completely disbelieving. "And you thought that meant you get to keep screwing the last quarter of L.A. until I'm in your bed?" she spat.

He narrowed his eyes. "I thought you meant that we would fall into our old habits and work up to all that," he argued.

"For being some cosmic being and ruler of hell, you're freaking thick," she sighed.

"I've never seen you so riled up, detective. I had no idea this was how you felt," he replied quickly. Straightening, he added, "I must say it quite excites me to see this possessive side to you."

"Let's just cut to the chase, Lucifer," the detective countered, not wanting to be pulled off track. "Do you want me out there sleeping with other men?"

She saw him narrow his eyes, and he growled as he spoke, "You wouldn't dare."

"I get it, so only you're allowed to screw anybody else?" she shrugged dramatically. "That's good."

Lucifer reached for her hand, but she pulled away. "Detective, my hair is still wet, much to my dismay. I assure you I've been deskankified," he played. He reached again, but she still didn't let him touch her. He groaned, a bit frustrated. "Look, detective, I'm not exactly in-the-know of all these rules of dating or being _exclusive_."

"You make that word sound so torturous," she spat, returning her attention back to the road.

He sighed. "Well, the idea has always vexed me. It sounds exhausting and much too _torturous_ ," he agreed. Lucifer paused, but continued after a small amount of silence. "Chloe, darling, you must know I'd always intended us to be _exclusive_. I just thought you wanted to slip back into our old habits."

Chloe peered up at him from the corner of her eyes, and relented. "We haven't had time to talk about any of this. I suppose I could understand where you _could_ think that absurd idea," she conceded.

Lucifer sounded exhausted when he replied, "I cannot tell you, detective, how much I missed your passive-aggressive retorts."

Chloe laughed, shaking her head slightly. "So, are we going to do this?" she eventually asked.

His eyes met hers, and she saw his smile brighten. "I don't know where to begin such a mundane, human relationship," he confessed.

"You can start by Googling it," she offered as she continued to drive to the hospital.

 **O**


	5. Light of the Moon

_INFERNO_

 **Author's Note:** Thank you for all the kind words! I'm really loving that this story is entertaining and keeping the feels alive in our small little community. This chapter is no help to the feels, I'm afraid. By the way, I've been meaning to announce that the chapter titles are song titles. Would you want me to go back and add the artists so you could listen along with me? The titles are of the song I used for inspiration for that particular chapter. I also bumped the rating back up to M. I thought I'd be able to get away with T for a little while longer. By the way, this chapter is almost 7k words...I haven't written this much in all my life. Keep those reviews coming!

This chapter's inspiration was "Clair de Lune." I just took the English translation. :) Enjoy!

 **O**

 _ **Chapter 5**_

Chloe stepped out of the car after backing into a spot on the third level of the parking garage. Her door was still open as she moved to face him as he stepped out with obvious hesitation. The detective crossed her arms and rested them on the roof of the car. He glanced around, but cleared his throat.

"Are you certain I should be here?" Lucifer questioned, his words smooth and deliberately slow. When the detective reached one of her hands across the car with her palm facing up, his eyes regarded her hand with interest and reluctance. Chloe watched as his throat bobbed. He looked so helpless, and she found it hard not to chuckle a bit. He straightened and used a hand to pull down the suit coat. "Right, well, I'm extremely pleased you find amusement in this," he mumbled while moving out of the way to close his door.

He didn't take her hand, so she mimicked his action, loudly shutting it with an echo ricocheting against the cement walls around them. She exhaled and smiled at him softly. "It's been a week since I last saw Trixie. With everything going on, I just want to make sure she's okay," she told him, joining his side as he moved his hands into his pant pockets.

"That I get," he countered quickly, "I'm just not entirely sure I need to make an appearance."

Chloe tugged on his sleeve gently and slowed down their pace. When his dark eyes moved over hers, the detective bit her lip and watched him as he relaxed his spine a bit to lean toward her slightly. "There's a cafeteria two floors down from Trixie. Go there, and I'll be down in an hour?" the detective offered. He nodded and they continued their walk inside the hospital. "I was only hoping you would come because Dr. Morrow should be on shift today," she weakly admitted. The detective started to remember what happened. He stopped them for a moment and pulled them into a small hallway off the main stretch into the hospital. "I'm not trying to manipulate you, Lucifer. I just don't know what to say or do if it happens again," Chloe immediately added.

The hallway seemed to be where elevators were, but the corridor was darker, suggesting none of them were operational for the day. He grabbed her shoulders and stepped toward her, guiding her back against the cold stone wall. Chloe lifted her chin to see him better. Lucifer moved his hands from her shoulders to her jaw. Gently, he eased her head down so that he could place his warm lips against her forehead. "We don't fully know the extent of your condition, detective," he whispered.

He moved his mouth to her throat and kissed her, deliberately avoiding her mouth. A part of her was grateful. Her insides twisted when the memory of those three women in his bed that morning. "It's for the best that I go with you," he said, pulling back. Lucifer took a moment to search her eyes. Chloe held his stare and saw a flash of fiery red shift over his dark eyes for a second. "I would hate for anyone to think they could look at you the way he was," he murmured.

Chloe straightened against the wall somewhat as she swallowed. She didn't know if she would ever get used to his true form, but she hoped she would. Lucifer hadn't told her how he felt when she flinched, but Chloe couldn't imagine it felt good. He backed away from her. His brows jerked with concern, but the detective moved toward him and claimed his hands.

"Does that frighten you, detective?"

Chloe watched his features diminish into a dark expression. He was retreating from her, but at least he wasn't moving away from her. "I'm not used to it, but I'm not afraid of _you_ – any part of you," the detective said. "I won't lie to you," she added hesitantly.

"I know that, detective," he answered, somewhat distracted. She watched his eyes drop to her lips. He began to lick his lips as his hues flashed with desire. He'd watched her like that before – countless times. This was the first time she noticed the blazing firestorm within his eyes, though. "What I wouldn't give make love to you right here against the wall in front of all these mortals, Chloe," he snarled. His hands latched on her shirt beneath her leather jacket, and she felt his hot hands.

She needed to distract him because she knew he would do it if she relented to him. "You've never called it that before," she heaved. She knew he saw the need in her eyes. Chloe was grateful that her control gave her enough power to rein him back in with her. Her mouth opened. She was sure she tried to speak again, but the words were lost.

Lucifer lowered down, bending his knees and hoisting her higher against the wall. The detective's natural reaction was to wrap her legs around his hips. Both of them shivered against each other. Chloe moaned, but he was quick to cover her mouth with his finger. "Distracting me is a _very_ good idea, detective. Keep up," he pleaded. He removed his hand from her mouth and pressed his lips against her ear, taking the lobe between his teeth. "I feel you everywhere," he heaved.

Chloe heard a desperate whimper in her throat nearly escape. She closed her eyes and nearly forgot why she needed to divert him. "Did you google that in the car?" she asked.

He swallowed against her throat. "Google what?" he muttered as his hands untucked her shirt and slipped underneath. His fingers traveled to her back, pulling her closer against his hot body.

"Oh, God," she murmured as his tongue swiped her ear lobe. Right! He'd asked her not to do that. Score one, Chloe!

Lucifer's body shook with laughter. "Now you're getting it," he groaned, clearly frustrated with her.

Chloe's eyes fluttered open and she sent him a smirk. "Making love, Lucifer," she answered.

"Ah," he purred smoothly. "What a serendipitous idea, Chloe."

She moved her head against the cold wall behind her in a poor attempt to shake her head. "Google," she breathlessly continued. "Not an idea, Lucifer," she fought. Her chest expanded as she released a deep pant. "You've never once talked about sex that way. You googled that in the car on the way here. Right?"

Lucifer hastily dropped her with an exaggerated eye roll. "Detective, you're no fun," he pouted as he straightened his suit jacket. "I don't need to tell you you're right."

Chloe stabled herself, using the wall as support. Her eyes regarded him with a disbelieving grin. "I feel like I should reward you for your good behavior or something," she joked while tucking her shirt back into her pants.

Lucifer's eyes widened with excitement. He brushed his pants in an area Chloe thought best not to look at. "I accept payment in the bedroom, a broom closet, a car, or…well, anywhere that would satisfy you, too," he quipped.

The detective rolled her eyes. "I meant that in _any_ other way, Lucifer." When she began to walk away from the annexed elevator lobby, he tugged her back against him with a playful smile on his lips.

"What shall my reward be?" he immediately asked. "Go on, detective. I've been a very good devil."

Suddenly, her smile was wiped away. Chloe Decker had never been a first-class flirt. When they'd kissed, she'd tried to lighten the mood. She'd done things that caused her flush at the memory of it all. She didn't want to be the one to completely shatter the mood, so she swallowed and offered him a quick ghost of a smile. "I can tell you something I wanted to die with," the detective suggested. As soon as the words left her mouth, her eyes went wide and she shook her head. "Nope, scratch that. Never mind."

His eyes became infected with mischief and delirious excitement. "This must truly be dirty, you filthy detective," he sang. When she tried to pull away from him, he wouldn't let her go. "Oh, no, Chloe. You must never start something you cannot finish. Especially not with me. The only thing I dislike more than a liar is a tease," he playfully said. His eyes widened briefly. "Out with it," he commanded.

The detective coughed and fidgeted underneath his strength. "Lucifer!" she giggled. Her heartbeat soared underneath her ribs. She discovered she could no longer meet his eyes when she continued to scan the hall opening for others.

"You've dreamt about me, haven't you?" Lucifer deviously guessed. "Tell me all about me. How was I?"

The rude retort of denial caught in her throat. He lowered to her again and nipped at her jaw with his perfectly white teeth. The action shocked her, and she broke her resolve and looked up at him. He brushed the tip of his nose against the bridge of hers. The touch sent a bolt of lightning to her toes, allowing her to squirm out of his grasp.

"Detective, you promised me a reward. It's not wise to go back on a deal with the devil," he argued.

The detective scoffed. "I never said that. You're taking my words out of context!"

He flashed her a grin, saying, "Of course I am, but I'm the devil, and I decided that, in exchange for being good, I deserve a reward. You brought it up." Lucifer followed her and grabbed her when she tried to walk out of the alcove again.

Chloe snapped when he spun her around to face him. "I dreamt about you the night we first kissed, okay?" she surrendered. Swallowing, she quickly persisted, "I was really into it, and when I pulled back before we continued, you – and don't roll your eyes at this because it was only a freaking dream – had horns."

He rolled his eyes anyway, but at least he smirked down at her. "And how did you react? How did it make you feel?" Lucifer interrogated.

Chloe rocked on her heels somewhat like a child getting in trouble. Her tone lowered. "I was actually exited by it, I guess. If Maze hadn't made noise while she freaking watched me dreaming, I'm pretty sure we'd have…" she trailed.

Lucifer clapped his hands together once, the sound startling her to look at him again. "How. Telling. Detective," he beamed. He grabbed her hand and ushered her out of the alcove. "We'll have to build up to all that. I must say, no one's ever wanted me in my real form before," he cheerfully told her as they moved through the few other people moving in the hall. "Though, I must confess people usually only scream at the sight of me."

"That must be annoying," she absently replied.

He sighed and tightened his fingers on hers. "Yes, well, I'm afraid it's a perk of ruling over hell."

The detective didn't stifle her chuckle. When they arrived at the elevator, she pressed the button and they remained silent until they arrived to the correct floor.

 **O**

"What in God's name is he doing here?" Dan fumed. He was sitting up in the bed. Chloe took a minute to examine him, noticing his injuries were healing wonderfully.

"Dan, need I remind you your chest caved in. Yelling isn't a good thing," she irritably argued. "I didn't come here to argue."

Dan scoffed and glared at Lucifer, who stood far away from the bed. "Then why _are_ you here?" he huffed with a wince.

"I'm going back to work, Dan," she abruptly said. She knew he wouldn't honestly care too much. The detective just wanted him to know. He'd know that she implied that he would be in charge of taking care of Trixie when he wasn't working on himself during physical therapy. Besides, Chloe didn't have any more patience or time to make somewhat polite conversation. Dan would just turn it back to Lucifer. "When you're released, we're also transferring Trixie to the house, too."

For a moment, he kept his eyes fixated on Lucifer, but his attention moved onto Chloe and he replied, "Is that possible?"

The lights in his room flickered ever so slightly, and the window over to the left of his bed provided a decent view of the ocean. She sighed and glanced back to him. "We're looking into it," she replied casually.

He remained quiet for a moment, taking a second to just stare at her. The detective fidgeted. He only stared at her like that when he had troublesome news. "Your mom came here this week," Dan quietly muttered.

The detective narrowed one her eyes and felt her brow twitch in response. "Did you let her see Trixie?" she immediately countered.

When he nodded, he glanced at her and defended, "Chloe, she just wants to see the family she nearly lost."

"That's not your call, Dan," she rudely said. "She wanted me to kill her! She kept talking about what was best for Trixie like she could know that!"

Dan leaned his head back and stared at the ceiling. "Chloe, you know I don't agree with her. She's just her grandmother. She's family," he calmly stated.

Her eyes never left Dan. This whole week was so messed up. Lucifer put a hand on her back and soothed the tight muscles there. She instantly felt comforted. "Dan, sometimes family doesn't mean all that much," she muttered. "With everything going on, I just don't want to deal with her saying things that just add make things more chaotic," the detective reasoned.

"I get it, okay? I just felt bad. You know how she can be when she wants something," he countered. His bright eyes returned to hers. She watched him look over to Lucifer, who still stood behind her rubbing her back. "So, are you two together or something?"

Chloe swallowed and smiled softly, surprised at Lucifer's continued silence. "My priority is seeing our daughter wake up, but we're taking things slow," she admitted.

"Yes, unfortunately I didn't understand her meaning of 'slow.' We hit a few snags this morning, but it's all cleared up," Lucifer added lightly.

Dan coughed and shot Lucifer a nasty glare. "Let me guess, she found surprises in your bed?" he speculated. He knew he was right, but he just wanted to confirm.

Lucifer laughed uncomfortably and stepped away from Chloe. "Yes, well, we've chatted and…discussed a few key issues. Nonetheless," he paused as he turned to Chloe, "we _are_ together."

Dan shifted in his bed and held up his hand toward him. "Me and you, we have a lot of things to talk about."

"I'm prepared to permit you to hit me once in her honor," he vowed darkly despite the light grin etched in his features. "My word is my bond, Detective Dou-" he cleared his throat. "Dan," he corrected.

" _Any_ way," Chloe interrupted. She'd never get men. "I'm gonna go check on Trixie." She turned toward the closed door.

"Chloe," Dan called.

Chloe's brow rose. "What?"

"I need you to check something out for me," he said.

The detective's featured scrunched. "You're not exactly ready to work, Dan. What could you possibly need me to check out?" she hesitantly asked.

Dan swallowed and looked at Lucifer while he said, "I wasn't going to say anything, but suddenly you show up in the middle of all this after Chloe's rough fall in the staircase." His eyes narrowed, but returned back to Chloe. "It can't just be a coincidence."

The detective stepped closer to the bed, moving to his left and crossing her arms. Chloe's brows tightened. "What's not a coincidence?" she asked quietly.

"The night of the accident – after all of it happened, but before you pulled us out of the car, I saw something. I called the precinct and had a friend get some footage of the area from a gas station camera. I need you to watch it and figure this out. I think we were targeted," he explained.

Chloe fought the urge to look at Lucifer. She moved her bound hair from one shoulder to the other as she exhaled. "I'm not cleared to take a case, Dan," she replied evenly. "Between the accident, being here, and the…fall, I need to recondition my body before going active again."

"I know just how we can help _recondition_ your body, detective," Lucifer quickly rushed to add. The detective looked over her shoulder to see him grin over at her as his tongue pushed against his lower lip.

Dan groaned and Chloe squinted at Lucifer. "You, hush," she retorted.

Lucifer held straightened his jacket. "Don't say I don't try to help," he sighed, though his smile provided no apologies. "Just trying to be a team player."

Dan cleared his throat and muttered, "This isn't a case, Chloe. This is personal." His eyes flashed over to Lucifer, but quickly retreated to Chloe. "I have a feeling we have more divine intervention than we need to get to the bottom of this mess."

"The cat's out of the bag!" Lucifer replied. He leaned over the bed slightly with his hands in his pockets. "Do you _finally_ believe me?"

Chloe pushed him away, and muttered something about shutting up. When she turned to Dan, he just shook his head.

"I don't want to get any more involved than I already am with any of this. Trixie is my only priority right now, but seeing how I'm confined to this bed for a few more weeks, I need you to get started on this," he said, somewhat uncomfortably. After a second, he pointed over to his bag, and Lucifer moved to inspect it. "Check in the third pocket on the inside flap," Dan instructed. When Lucifer pulled his hand out, Chloe saw a flash drive.

A knock at the door interrupted them. The door opened, revealing Dr. Morrow. His eyes fixed on her, but he seemed pleasant and professional. "Good morning, Miss Decker," he greeted, turning to the bed. "Dan," he said. When he noticed Lucifer, his eyes went wide. Chloe thought she heard him groan quietly, but she couldn't be sure over Lucifer's sadistic laughing behind her. "You have a guest in today," the doctor observed, quickly looking down at the clipboard and going over some papers.

"We were just leaving to see Trixie," Chloe blurted before Lucifer could say anything. The detective moved to Dan and reached for his hand, giving it a gentle squeeze. "We'll get out of your hair," she told him. Kissing the top of his head, she withdrew herself from the bed to stand by Lucifer. "We'll look into it," she added as she pulled the devil behind her out of the room and closed the door.

A nurse passing by instantly snapped her attention on Lucifer, smiling sinfully his way. He trained his attention on the middle-aged blond nurse and matched her seductive grin. The detective shoved her hand on him and pushed him off balance. "Are you kidding me right now?" she seethed.

Lucifer's smile fell. He closed his eyes as he quickly followed behind Chloe. "Old habits, detective," he assured. He easily caught up with her and stopped her just before she could retreat into the child's room. "I can hardly turn it off," he added anxiously.

The swallow at his throat and the unspoken plea caught in his dark eyes pinned her in place. He was afraid. Chloe could only speculate the _why_. This man was complex and, hell, hardly a man in the human sense. Somehow everything about had changed now that she knew who he was for sure. As the doubt blanketed her mind, a familiar chord of warmth reassured her wayward thoughts threatening her calm heart.

The detective reached for his hand and kissed the tops of his fingers as her other hand covered the top of his strong hand. It was easy to get mad at him for something he was right about. Lucifer couldn't control it any more than she could control her being a mother. It was easy to blame him for things like this, but it was incredibly wrong.

The reality was simple. He was learning how to be with her in a serious – mostly humanlike – relationship, and she was learning how to move forward in spite of everything they were up against – all that had happened. Lucifer didn't like talking about heavy stuff. He _did_ understand physical touch and communication. The detective would meet him in the middle and comfort him in a way he was familiar. One thing was clear. They both needed to heal in their own ways and adjust to these changes.

She opened the door and immediately walked over by the bedside where the rolling chair was. She sat in it, for a moment, just stared at Trixie. The machines beeped and the machine helped her daughter's chest rise and fall. The peaceful expression eased the pain in Chloe's chest.

The detective moved her hand to touch Trixie's hair, her touch affectionate and tender. Trixie didn't move, of course. Chloe hadn't expected her to. Eventually, the detective stood up and glanced over her shoulder. The blinds of the large window were closed, making the room dark and dreary. "They keep closing these," she commented as she reached for the stick to twirl them open. The light infiltrated the hospital room, glowing off of Trixie.

"Your mum really wanted you to take her off life support?" Lucifer quietly asked. When Chloe looked at him, she saw him standing against the door clutching the door handle with both hands joined together behind him. His eyes held an intensity she studied for a moment.

The detective nodded. "She kept saying how it would have been a kindness for her," Chloe hesitated. Crossing her arms, she glanced down at her daughter. "She would say you leaving clouded my judgement," she continued with a sad shake of her head. Chloe was instantly frustrated when tears began clouding her vision. Scoffing, she wiped at her eyes and met his eyes again, mumbling, "She meant well, but that didn't make losing you and being faced with the choice of letting my daughter die or try to see if she'd wake up any easier."

Lucifer chest caved as he exhaled loudly. The echoing noise of his shoes hitting the floor signaled he was walking toward her. When he got to her, he claimed her in a warm, tight embrace and a kiss to her temple. "Parents have horrendous way of interfering with their children's lives," he whispered as he looked down at Trixie. "The urchin looks quite at peace."

The detective softly chuckled and uncrossed her arms, wrapping them around him. She turned her head, so she could see Trixie, too. Smiling, she fondly said, "I've dedicated my whole life to helping people like my father did. I've tried to be selfless and see the good in as many as I can to balance all the bad people out there."

The room felt too hot, so she broke from him to take off her leather jacket. The bright red flannel plaid shirt she wore stood out amongst the sterile scheme of white and light blue of the hospital room. She moved in front of him and grabbed each of his arms to wrap around her shoulders. The left side of her head leaned against his warm, tight neck. She swallowed and sighed, "I've never actually needed anything in my life the way I need her, Lucifer. No one else." The detective paused, closing her eyes as his arms tightened around her. "Until you," she whispered.

Lucifer gasped unobtrusively. Chloe turned her head to meet his dark hues. The shape of his stern brows dipped downward as his eyes shifted, narrowing with a weight of something she couldn't make out. His hand touched her face. "You," he began as his thumb rubbed the bottom of her right eye. Swallowing, he held her there and kissed her forehead lightly. "You make me feel invincible."

 **O**

The club was empty. It was only the early afternoon, and Lux had no business being open. Traces of singular piano notes ghostly lingered around the club. Eventually, laughter erupted, slicing the silence between Chloe and Lucifer. A laptop bag was set on top of the piano. The laptop had been pulled out, but sat unused for the moment.

"Okay," Chloe chuckled loudly. "It's not fair! Your immortal and are wicked talented. Combine that with holding the unfair advantage of looking the part of a broken, starving musician, and you have a cocktail of unfairness!" The arpeggio of an uncharacteristic whine tickled her usually serious tone. Chloe Decker was giggling like a little schoolgirl.

Lucifer raised his brow and smirked freely as he continued to quickly strum over the piano keys from side to side. Long fingers restlessly pressed over the expanse of white. His wristed effortlessly trailed over the other in a graceful display of arrogance. As she continued to try to mess him up, he'd snap her fingers away with his own and recover with a nearby note. When he finished with a dramatic shove against the keys, he raised his brows and a smug lift of the left corner of his mouth.

"Now you're just showing off," she accused. The detective bumped her shoulder against his. Blue eyes settled back on the piano. An idea conjured in her mind. "Confession," she started.

Lucifer's features instantly loosened as he curiously regarded her. "I'm afraid I'm not in that line of work. I'm not even Catholic," he sardonically reflected as he lifted his gaze to look at something architectural high on the walls of his club.

A smile widened Chloe's mouth. The detective pinched his thigh gently as she rolled her eyes. "I'm serious! It's something I've never told anyone," she said as she bit her lip. His eyes moved back over hers. "When I was auditioning for _Hot Tub High School_ , I put that I knew how to play the piano on my resume," Chloe choked, her hand covering her mouth to stifle the obnoxious sounds at her throat. Her lips curled between her teeth.

"My Chloe _lied_?" he theatrically replied. "Chloe Decker? The same woman who nearly terrified her own daughter about lying for that cake she ate?"

The detective nodded her head. "Guilty as charged!" she replied as she pressed a note on the piano. The noise settled between them.

Lucifer moved his hand over hers and guided their hands to play a string of unrelated notes that sound lovely when pressed together. "You know what they say about liars," he mentioned as the last note resonated a little longer than the other ones.

"Oh, I'd totally go to hell for it, I'm sure," she joked.

He winked at her and laughed beside her. After a moment, he pulled her to his lap and rested his chin on her shoulder. "Detective, you're destined for greater places than hell," he whispered. He guided their joined hands over the keys, stroking choice ones to create the tune of Claude Debussy's "Clair de lune." He used his other hand to reach for her free hand to tap against the opposite side of the piano. "Unlike me, of course," he quietly told her.

He dropped her hands to continue with the piece. Chloe pulled her hands out of his way and into her lap. The music intoxicated her as it always did, but the effects of his playing provided more of an intense pull of emotion from her this time. The detective tracked his fingers tracing the notes of the composition across the piano. He fanned his fingers out over several keys and delicately used the keys to share the story of the piece.

The composition quieted, and his fingers played as if he were whispering to her. In a space of a moment, he created sadness with his fingers and a heavy weight over her heart. The music he played had a cosmic power over her. The force of it made her eyes lull shut as she just listened to the sad, promises of the music.

Echoes bounced the sounds all around them, creating a cocoon between the rest of the world and them. Behind her closed lids, she started to see colors drag around them in streaks as they waved in the open air of the club she imagined. The color bands inflicted a rainbow of varying emotion within her. The blue strand curled over her arms and wrapped itself around her chest until it settled there.

In her imagination, her eyes opened to an empty field she recognized from her vault of memories. Her father had brought her here a few times during summer breaks. It was always hot and sweat seemed to bead over her skin even when she was hidden in shade. The field was void of the colorful flowers movies always swore fields had. It was the color of wheat.

The field had been victim of a dangerous fire that had plagued the area during winter when Chloe was little. The field provided little places to hide. Trees were scarce and the ground was buried under a thick layer of tall waving weeds. Green was a color this field didn't know anymore.

Despite the heat, Chloe heard her small footsteps rush over the thick weeds as she ran. Laughter sounded, and she knew it was her own in the body of when she couldn't have been older than seven. Her mother hadn't come with them. She was filming a movie somewhere in the world, and it was just the two of them in this private decayed oasis. Chloe glanced behind her shoulder and saw her father chasing not too far behind her.

During a trip back to this field, her father had once told her that life was as simple as you made it. Chloe hadn't been older than nine, and she hadn't understood what he'd meant. He never talked about the bad people he helped protect the city from. He never wanted to talk about that stuff with her. He'd said that he only wanted to feel happy and blessed when he had time with her. Never once had he let her down when they played together in this hot decaying field. They'd just laughed and played until it was time to go back home.

The blue strand unwound around her body and jetted away from her. She no longer felt the sadness the song caused. Chloe didn't know why she'd think about the field while the composition sang behind some curtain of fading memory. Flashbacks always were rather random.

A string of warmth beaded down her cheek, pulling her away from the reverie. Opening her eyes, Chloe shook her head as Lucifer played the last few notes of the piece. She sluggishly began moving her hand to wipe away the tear, but he caught it with a gentle press of his tongue against her cheek. He quickly kissed the spot afterward.

The piano notes quieted, fading into the background until they were lost. Chloe leaned her head against his, and he slid his hands to press against her thighs. His long fingers squeezed her there lightly. "Where did it take you?" he murmured, almost inaudibly so.

"It was a memory with my dad in a field up north," she told him. When she turned her body a little, she noticed his eyes were glossy, too. "Where were you?" Chloe whispered as he helplessly, almost blankly, stared up at her.

He swallowed and reached for his bourbon on the piano, swigging it down quickly. "My brother, Uriel," he finally answered. His eyes closed, and he leaned against her throat, inhaling slowly. "Someday I'll tell you all about it, detective," he exhaled.

She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and kissed the top of his head. Swallowing hurriedly, she sighed, deeply breathing in the scent of the bourbon on his breath. Chloe pulled away from him and lowered her hands over his jawline, the stubble scratching against her fingers some. She guided him to look at her. The detective sweetly smiled and lowered her lips to his.

Lucifer backed the bench up and used his strength to guide her into standing up for only a second. Suddenly, he pulled her down onto him, straddling him. His eyes were heavy with emotion and hesitation and question. Chloe seemed to allow the same spell he'd fallen victim to tug on her heart, too. His mouth became harder against hers, but he let their lips linger there as he moved his hands over her ass, squeezing tenderly and not in the usual sexual frenzy he had.

This was different. This was tender and sensual. When he had her in his hands, fully cupping as much of her rear as he could, he curled his fingers so that his nails dragged against her jeans. Slowly. Meticulously. Intimately. Lucifer pulled back a whisper's length away and sealed his mouth over hers again, this time lightly trailing his tongue against her lower lip.

With a moan, she let him slide in. His touch wasn't demanding or, hell, even commanding. He was in no hurry as her tongue brushed over his, passing and twirling in the same slow tempo as the composition. A shiver broke through his tight suit underneath her palms, but he stayed still underneath her.

Lucifer was hard again, but he shocked her as he deliberately raised his hands to the buttons of her flannel buttoned shirt. His slow pace told her that if she were to protest, he would stop. Lucifer seemed as afraid as she was to talk, to potentially break this unexpected spell between them.

His fingers gradually unclasped her shirt's buttons from her collar down to the button of her skinny jeans. The shirt remained somewhat closed, only exposing a small sliver of her torso to him. He bent over and kissed between her breasts, just below her collarbones. Painstakingly, he slipped his hands beyond the fabric and parted the shirt open, exposing her ridiculously plain white bra and skin to him.

He'd seen her already. A lot of people had, truthfully. That damn movie would haunt her for the rest of her life. Her ribs still showed, and she felt a bit self-conscious. When she unconsciously moved her arms to somehow cover her body from him, he caught both of them and brought her knuckles to his lips. He didn't look at her. He just sat underneath her with closed eyes as he guided her hands back down to her sides.

Only then did he open his eyes to observe what he'd sought. She watched him watching her, and a part of soul ignited with explosive need. However, she remained steady against the waring need within her. Chloe was a slave to this spell for the time being. It seemed he was, too.

His hands traced where her ribs were, each finger twitching abruptly as his hands descended to the sides around her waist. He just held her there as he stared at her. He remained vigilant and solid as his dark, hungry eyes took her in for too many seconds to tally.

Finally, he pushed his hands toward the piano and helped her to arch her back a bit, helping display her body before him. He scooted the bench with little effort toward the piano, causing her ass to land on some the keys. The noise disturbed their silence. It was an ugly arrangement of notes that didn't seem to fit together.

Lucifer lowered his mouth to where her heart beat to the same rhythm he moved in: slow and measured. Chloe arched against him even more as he locked his mouth over her heart and sucked against the skin there. The movement made the piano shout with distorted notes again, but neither of them stopped.

She felt his hot tongue over her skin and moaned, suddenly breathless. He didn't move from that spot. He didn't try to rip off her shirt. He didn't reach for her embarrassingly basic bra. He only touched her with is mouth in the same place and with his spread hands over her lower back.

The flesh he sucked became tender and painful. It felt wonderful! He pulled back for a moment and moved a hand over his mark. His large hand covered most of her left breast, but she noticed he didn't try to push her further. He seemed to just want to touch her.

Lucifer lowered his head, the center of his forehead above his mark over her heart. His breath against her exposed skin was hot and thick. Her breaths became staggered and short and labored, but in his calm, she leaned over him with her arms wrapped around him. Neither of them moved.

A door somewhere opened, probably a side door she and the others used to get in when the club wasn't open. "Lucifer?" Amenadiel called from a distance away from the top level.

Chloe clenched, but Lucifer held her against him, not even moving. "Not now, brother! Leave!" he ordered. The loud force of his voice echoed around the empty club. The footsteps halted, and they both heard the same distant door close. He sighed against her, the air tickling her chest.

She smiled at his annoyance and pulled away from him as much as he let her. Her eyes hovered over his. They locked onto each other before meeting for a brief, gentle kiss. The moment was gone, but she still felt the effects sweeping through her body, making her toes curl in her boots.

Lucifer smiled and kissed his mark once more before buttoning up her shirt for her. When he righted her clothes, she remained over him. Sharing a mutual smile, they kissed again until Chloe pulled away. "We need to watch the footage," she reluctantly said.

Lucifer released her and let her stand up to move to the laptop on the piano top. When she opened the computer, she held out her hand for the flash drive in his pocket. He stood up and withdrew what she wanted. Her eyes focused on the obvious bulge.

When he looked down, he nervously swallowed and clapped his hands together. Looking to her again, he offered a small playful grin. "Yes, well, that would normally be taken care of, but seeing as how you've banned me from my usual methods, you're going to need to ignore it for now," he gravely spoke.

Chloe continue to flash her eyes between him and his crotch – for some reason, unable to ignore it. Her focus was attempting to rein back in, but her mind had several other ideas she was thinking about.

He swallowed and shook his head. "I have more class than to just whip it out and wank off in front of you, detective," he uneasily retorted under her scrutiny. Her mouth hung open, and her eyes widened at his crudeness. She wasn't _un_ used to it. She was just caught off guard.

"Do you mind closing you mouth?" Lucifer asked, a bit more seductively. He raised his brows and pulled his suit jacket down. "It's putting pretty ideas in my head," he confessed.

Chloe scoffed and snatched the USB drive from him, shoving it into the laptop as it booted up.

 **O**


	6. Immortals

_INFERNO_

 **Author's Note:** Why, hello, friends! It's been a little while, hasn't it? I trust you each had a more eventful week than I did. Work is hitting my free time, but hopefully I get to update this at least once more this week! Enjoy! This is a little bit of a violent chapter, but it's worth the read! I promise! Next chapter will be my favorite yet. _Please review?_ It gives me warm fuzzy feelings of inspiration to write more of this adventure! :)

 **O**

The screen loaded the first frame of the video on the UBS drive, but it remained paused. Chloe tapped her fingers against the smooth black piano top as she stared at the intersection. As her brows dipped together, she began whispering incoherently. Reaching for her phone, she swallowed and dialed a string of numbers. The phone was on speaker mode by the time the call was answered.

"Chloe?" Amenadiel quickly asked.

Chloe lowered onto her elbows as she studied the first frame of the video, but called, "Who are you with? You're still outside the club, right?"

"I'm with mom…Charlotte, and yes. We need to talk to Lucifer," he replied.

Exhaling evenly, the detective raised the phone and said, "Come on in. There's something you both should see."

"Detective?" Lucifer inquired as he brought over another bourbon glass. Chloe gazed to the napkin he held and stole it as she withdrew a pen from the bag next to the laptop. "You could have asked nicely," he mumbled as he walked away, likely getting another, so he could set the bourbon on the piano.

They heard the door open and close as well as two sets of footsteps. They'd entered in the same door as earlier. Charlotte and Amenadiel moved quickly down the steps until they got to the piano. Amenadiel wore a white shirt underneath a leather jacket and jeans. Charlotte wore a casual red dress with heels that were at least five inches tall alone.

Amenadiel moved to Chloe's side and looked down as she wrote "0:00" down on the napkin. Lucifer joined them on her other side. Charlotte stepped behind Chloe, peering down over her shoulder with her arms crossed.

"What are we looking at?" Charlotte asked.

Chloe moved her index finger on the touch mouse pad at the bottom of the computer and searched the still frame. The movement caused the play button and the time dial to reappear. The detective sealed her lips to a fine line and swallowed again. "I want more eyes on this clip. This is footage from the accident. Dan had someone retrieve it," she quickly said. Her lips formed a small circle as she exhaled quickly. "I'm not sure what we're looking at, but I know it won't be good."

"By the way, he now believes that I _am_ the devil!" Lucifer happily muttered to the others.

Before any of them could answer, Chloe hit the play button and kept the pen near the paper, writing down every second underneath the other. For the first twenty seconds, nothing happened. Neither her car nor the eighteen wheeler was in sight. Headlights came into view by the twenty-first second. As the truck's headlights came closer into the frame, her spine stiffened, and her fingers jotted the time stamp down.

Her eyes never left the screen.

No one else seemed remotely as concerned as she was. None of them had seen it. She'd have to play it back in slow motion for them. Her trained eyes continued to observe as the eighteen wheeler moved forward. Finally, at second twenty-eight, her car came into better view. Her blue eyes didn't blink as she was forced to watch her car be struck by the truck. She wrote the timestamp onto the napkin – "0:33."

The detective watched her body eject from the car from the passenger side window, almost soaring through the air until she impacted the side of a building from across the other side of the wide street. It had three lanes on both directions. For now, her body was obstructed by a garbage bin. Her eyes narrowed as she wrote down that timestamp.

It wasn't too important, but it could be related to everything she was gathering. There was a unique story embedded within each second written down. She heard Lucifer growl by her side, but she honed her focus back onto the car. She wrote down the timestamp. She swallowed and saw exactly what Dan had. By the gasps behind her, they did, too. Chloe jotted the time down.

She saw the video had fifteen more seconds. While she didn't write anything down until the last second, she stared at the black shadowy blob standing a few yards away from the car. A large dose of fear penetrated her heart, but she steeled her resolve, successfully breaking out of it.

"What did you all see?" she evenly asked. The detective still leaned close to the screen, but her eyes hovered over the timestamps. It was something she'd done so many times.

Amenadiel placed a hand on her arm, warranting her attention over him for a second. "We all saw it. More importantly, what did you find?"

Taking a deep breath, the detective lifted the napkin from the piano top and showed him the times, using her pen to move down from the first to the last – top to bottom. "I know everything I need to, but I want to see if you caught anything I might have missed," she said quietly.

"If you already know everything, then spit it out," Lucifer seethed. His eyes were stormy and tumultuous. He'd been distracted by what happened to her.

Chloe moved around to the opposite side of the piano and turned the laptop toward her. "After I was released from the hospital, I started doing my own digging. We have a few facts that previously meant little. Now, they all make sense," she began. She turned the computer toward them and used her pen to point to different corners. "This intersection is one of the busiest in L.A. A lot of traffic accidents happen – even at the time of the accident. Each building around this intersection has security cameras," she paused.

Charlotte looked up at her and narrowed her eyes, saying, "If there were other cameras, how is this the first time you're seeing this?"

"The cameras weren't operational that night. Each of them had reported malfunctions seven minutes prior to the accident. All of the cameras went live seven minutes after it," Chloe answered quickly. She walked back around the piano, as if walking helped her brain charge. "This camera had been installed the day of the accident and hadn't been reported operational until the next day officially. Without being on duty, I'd have no way to access this footage," she finished.

Amenadiel stepped back, but stared at the screen. His shoulders rose and fell as he took a calming deep breath. His eyes fixed on her, and he said, "You'd have no reason to check the camera if it wasn't supposed to work until the next day."

"When I went back to work on a part-time basis, I checked traffic reports in the area. I thought it was odd that no other cars would be passing by or even around," Chloe added. She turned to laptop toward her again and switched to scanned newspaper articles. Her blue eyes searched the several articles. "It felt off, but I had no evidence supporting my theory," she continued as her eyes moved to Lucifer. "Until now."

"What's this theory, detective?" he asked, though his eyes flashed with realization. They were thinking the same thing.

"Everything points to a blockade. A minor accident or petty crime was committed on every block leading to this intersection. Police cars in the way prevented anyone from coming in or leaving around the time we were passing through," the detective sighed. "Now that we have this, I really didn't need to watch the whole clip. The first frame told me everything I need to know."

"Which is?" Charlotte questioned, her eyes moving to Lucifer briefly before returning to the detective.

Chloe shook her head and clicked the replay button, pausing at the first frame. She guided her pen to demonstrate the direction of the camera. "Outside of the little facts I already had, this camera angle is too perfect. It's staged like a movie somewhat," she told them.

Her eyes flashed to a lower timestamp and pulled the progress bar to the right until it showed a black blur in the truck just before it struck the car. "Whatever this is, it had control of Hatchings. The truck in normal circumstances wouldn't have flipped over like it did. As soon as it leaves, it disappears until reappearing in the perfect spot for Dan to see something disturbing," she informed.

Amenadiel crossed his arms. "Why would a demon go through all this trouble to make sure a human saw it?" he asked, frustration aggravating his otherwise smooth tone.

"Not a human, brother," Lucifer fumed. Chloe looked at him, but he stared down at the screen with tight coiled fists.

Chloe dragged the bar to the other timestamp and paused the footage so they could look at the figure. "The angle of what appears to be its eyes is too high to be focused on Dan. It's staring at the camera," the detective clarified.

Lucifer slowly backed away and moved to the bar, grabbing the bottle of Bourbon and chugging it instead of his glass. He chuckled, though it sounded crushed and filtered – unlike anything she'd heard from him.

"It wanted Lucifer to find this," Charlotte confirmed as her hand covered her mouth. Amenadiel moved to her and pressed his hand on her arm, comforting her.

Charlotte stepped closer toward Lucifer, but he stumbled around toward her, hand outstretched. His eyes were filled with rage – so pure and unstable. The detective had never seen him look so demonic before. His eyes flashed red, staying that way as he rushed over toward her. He put his hand on her throat, uttering, "Don't even think about touching me, mother. You've already done _so_ much." Amenadiel stalked over toward his brother and shoved him back, but Lucifer stabled and chuckled darkly. "You'll be next, brother. Don't you worry," he promised.

Lucifer's hand tightened around Charlotte's neck. Amenadiel stumbled back as Lucifer threw him across the room. The fallen angel shouted his brother's name, but it was no use. Lucifer was honed in on his target. Chloe reached for the bottle he held in his free hand and bashed it against his head as gently as she could. His grasp on Charlotte waned as he turned around, somewhat delirious. "Detective?" he muttered as he fell against her. His eyes returned to normal and she caught him

Chloe felt him slump against her, and she quickly shoved him onto a nearby bar stool. She huffed as the others stared at her. "I thought my family drama was bad," she easily joked. The bourbon dripped over her clothes and skin. She regarded herself with an aggravated groan. "I didn't think that through," she added as she pulled her soaked shirt away from her body.

 **O**

Maze was with Trixie. The demon had actually asked Chloe to spend the night with her for probably the millionth time since the accident. It was nice that someone else cared about Trixie. The fact that Maze cared so much about her daughter warmed her heart. Their relationship had transformed over the last seven months – now closer to eight. The detective nearly had lost count with all the shit going on around her.

Four months ago, Chloe only had to deal with moving on from a broken heart. The hardest part was the not knowing _why_ Lucifer had left without a word. Now she knew, and the answers had only brought her more questions. Now, she was with the devil off on a personal hunt for the demons that caused Trixie and Dan to suffer.

One minute detective. The next? Demon hunter. It sounded as odd as it was.

Chloe wore a vest made of similar material as a sports bra and matching yoga pants. They were black and a little too big considering her recent weight loss. The detective couldn't bring herself to whip out her sports bras yet. Her ribs weren't comfortable to look at, and a part of her cared about that.

L.A. was filled with girls with eating disorders. No one needed to throw her in with that bunch. She didn't want people to look at her – to question her condition. No one needed to know about the accident or Trixie or her new relationship.

Was Lucifer her boyfriend? _Boyfriend_ , she scoffed. It sounded so juvenile. She was with the literal devil. Chloe would just call him her partner. That's what they'd been all this time. For a devil unwilling to go back to hell at his father's demanding to go to hell to save her, she was willing to let their relationship take its natural course.

She'd never thought she'd have to be the one who wrote the figurative book on how to date the devil.

The weather proved to be hot, suggesting that spring would eventually wane into the next phase. California sun was relentless, but she should have been used to it by now. People were out and about, and Chloe carefully weaved between them. Her body was drenched with a satisfactory sweat, proving her hard work for the few hours she'd been out.

Lucifer should have woken up almost as immediately as she'd left Lux. She now knew distance was needed for him to be unharmed – a perk of his condition, he'd say if her were there with her. He wasn't, though. Chloe Decker needed to focus on her conditioning if she was ever going to get back into work.

Besides, she couldn't sit around while demons tried to kill her family again. Chloe would ask Maze for a few lessons in killing demons, but only while away from Lucifer. She didn't think he'd like that idea.

She'd been continuously running for over an hour and a half without stopping. Her body was showing just how different it was. When Lucifer said he had great stamina, he hadn't been joking – even if he was talking about screwing around with her at the time. Despite her body appearing sickly, Chloe was able to run with no problem.

The sun would set in an hour or two. It had been forever since she'd just stopped her life for a day and ran. She used to do it almost every day, but marrying and being a mother changed her life. Chloe couldn't even imagine a life without Dan and Trixie. She didn't want to. That's why she needed to train her body back up. She wanted to explore what had changed about her – now that she was immortal apparently.

For the first time, Chloe allowed herself to think about what that meant for her family. There would be no growing old with someone. Would she be forced to watch her daughter die? How in the world was this going to work? Would she be forced to go to hell? If not, when would Lucifer have to go back? Would they live apart?

Chloe suspected these questions should have overwhelmed her. They did, but she couldn't afford her focus to be spread too thin. She had to have her usually level head again.

She would take one day at a time…

The detective continued to run back to her rented house. She'd need to shower and change. Think about it, she needed to go back to Lux and talk to Lucifer about the case they were opening privately. He wouldn't be too happy with her smashing bottles over his head. It would probably be a disaster of a conversation, but she needed it to happen because when it did, it would be over. They'd move on.

She entered her neighborhood and charged down the streets until she got back to her house. She tugged on her arm, pulling down an elastic band that had her house key on it. The detective fumbled around a bit with the key, but ultimately unlocked the front door and entered. Her rented home was nothing like her mother's house, but it _was_ home – at least when Trixie was here. Her daughter would be here soon – by the end of the month like Dan.

A breeze caught her attention. In a house with all windows left closed, it was odd and unsettling that such a breeze could be possible. Chloe swallowed, her stomach heavy with familiar dread. Swallowing once, Chloe went back to the front door and turned the lock, so the door would provide a quick exit if need be. The kitchen provided her with little comfort. Only a few cooking knives and pots could be useful in any sort of attack.

The detective reached for one of the flat and round pots, setting it on the stove top. She made quick use of her hands as she turned the knob on the stove to indicate the highest possible heat. Her hands were shaking. Something was here, and she needed to think. Quickly.

A spike of fear trickled over her bones as she moved casually to the fridge and procured whatever her hands could reach first – eggs. The carton was set on the counter as she slowly opened them, eyeing the heating pot nervously. No one was around to help her. Chloe didn't know the first thing about demons, if that was the who that was here in her home with her.

Everything felt off, and suddenly, a thick, rough, and raspy voice whispered in the space of silence. Was it _in_ her mind? Her eyes welled with a fresh pool of tears. What on earth was happening?

The demonic hiss rang through her head in a bunch of unintelligible slurs – a language she couldn't recognize. The language was perhaps a bastardized version of maybe Latin or Greek. Chloe couldn't be certain. Her hands shook, but she managed to retrieve her cell phone and unlock it as she continued her charade with the eggs.

 _Look inconspicuous. You're not completely helpless. You're trained in hand-to-hand combat_. Her thoughts became tethered to the other words in her mind. The words were prolonged and thick and snarly – as if a snake was having a conversation with a lion.

 _SOS. Something's in my house,_ she texted in bulk to Maze, Amenadiel, Charlotte, and Lucifer.

Chloe set her phone to silent, so that it wouldn't disturb the safety of the silence surrounding her and the intruder. Setting the cell phone back down, she cast her focus on the heating pot on the stove. A wicked idea flashed in her mind, cutting through all the sounds and noises that had grown only louder and more intrusive over her own thoughts. Her trembling hand clutched onto the knobs of the stove and turned them to the highest setting.

What if her puny knife didn't affect the demon? The memory of all the conversations between Maze and Lucifer were jumbled and inaccessible to her now. The voice grew louder, and she flinched as she heard a noise from one of the bedrooms. The tears trailed downward over her now paling features.

The noise creaked closer, and Chloe decided it was too late for any attempts at running, though it would probably have been futile. _If_ this was a demon, Chloe couldn't risk the safety of others. Lucifer said she was now immortal, and that her body was changing. Perhaps she could leverage that and distract the demon until someone could get here.

The demonic thoughts pierced her ears, causing her knees to buckle. Her hands moved over her ears in an effort to block them out, but, like escape, the effort was futile. She opened her eyes and saw a black being, dark and scared, standing only feet away from her. It peered down at her as it just stood there, regarding her with an indecipherable expression. Its scars and black features were punishing against her eyes – the sight ugly and foul.

Chloe shouted, though through the invading thoughts she could not hear her deafening cries. Its mouth moved, but no sound registered in her mind. Its thoughts were cutting through everything. The detective felt her body quiver wildly for the cabinets as she struggled to stand up. Her knees caved underneath her wobbly legs, but she caught herself quickly against the counter. She now faced the wall, her back exposed to the creature.

In one quick swipe, Chloe felt the bite of a knife jab across her back from the bottom of her ribs to the opposite shoulder. Quickly, the pain of the blade overpowered the demonic thoughts and whispers. Her knees buckled again as she hung onto the sink with her arms steadying her. Based on the type of wound she now had, Chloe could tell this creature was only playing with its prey. A quick end was not its plan.

The air shifted as she heard the knife swing up in the air, the detective shifted her body weight in the direction of the stove, successfully reaching the pot and using it to deflect the second swipe of the demon's knife. A smooth, hot liquid seeped through her clothes and down her back. Judging the fact that she could walk, the knife hadn't pierced that deeply. It felt more like a graze, but it burned like hell!

The hot pot moved with the knife as she started to stand up on her own. Something felt off, like her energy was being sapped away very slowly. The demon's strength was relentless and unyielding, but she somehow kept up to its tyrannical tempo. Chloe grunted loudly when she felt the cut begin the boil – at least that's how it felt like. She'd been shot, stabbed, beat, and maimed in her career as a cop. Pain was something she was familiar with, though Chloe would never truly be used to it.

The blade was deflected again by the pan, but she felt the handle begin to wobble as the cheaply made metal pot gave out. She needed to rethink her strategy – and quickly! As the demon pushed the knife back to her, she used her arm to deflect the impact in her chest. Instead, the blade nicked near her nose under her left eye and down to her jawline. "Shit," she muttered as she was able to push the demon against a nearby wall.

The sudden boost of adrenaline was working in her favor – for the moment. This could all go incredibly wrong if she made one wrong move. With every ounce of strength she could muster, Chloe lifted the hot pan behind her shoulder and swung it over the demon's head. The demon's knife was tossed away for the moment. Chloe watched it sway underneath the large couch in the living room.

The pot broke upon impact, and she immediately moved back into the kitchen for a knife of her own, but her body was painfully caught in the demon's choking embrace. Her back to the demon, she felt her bones begin to succumb to the pressure. She yelped as she felt a few of her ribs crack.

The world shook for a moment when the demon dropped her to the ground, her head taking the brunt of the fall. The detective moaned when her vision became fuzzy. The demon grabbed her by her ankle, her body sliding against the slick floor until it reached her neck. The wrinkled and hot hand clutched her as it lifted her off the ground. Her lungs pleaded for a clean brush of air back into them. Chloe heard her gags and struggles.

All the adrenaline that had flooded her body was now gone. Her eyes released a few more tears until her vision became hazy again. She moved her hands over the wrist, but she was too weak to do anything significant. Her blue eyes moved to view the ceiling. Flashes of faces and laughter swept over her mind, recalling what it felt like to hold Trixie and how it felt like to kiss Lucifer.

She remembered this feeling. It was precisely what she'd felt during her first demon attack at the hospital. This was a powerful jolt of fear electrifying her nerves. Fear. _Fear_. FEAR! Her thoughts were becoming jumbled. Now a torturous pressure threatened to snap her bones. As she dangled before the monster, she ceaselessly moved her feet to feel around for the ground. If she could only have the earth beneath her feet, she would likely be able to do _something_.

The creature's response was only to lift her higher and press harder on her throat. She gasped painfully, loudly, and she knew it would be her last breath. She didn't want to die. The fear scorched her mind like a nuclear bomb detonating. All too quickly, she was dropped to the ground – this time landing on her ass. Her hand reached for her throat, but didn't reach it for a delayed second. Her vision was fading back into view. When she finally found her throat, she coughed, closing her eyes.

When she opened them, Chloe found the demon screeching in pain as bright orange flames engulfed its body. Flashes of silent images of faces and places she didn't recognize froze her in place as she watched in horror as the demon writhed and deteriorated. The flames didn't seem to spread onto the furniture the demon used to hold itself up. The fire only seemed targeted on the demon itself. Wails of agony sounded in the living space like sirens in pounding in the night. Piece by piece, a portion of the demon's body burned away into nothingness as it finally started to move back toward her.

Chloe used her feet to push her back against the cabinets, only when she reached to stabilize herself on the floor, she joined in the shouts of throbbing, endless pain. She glanced down at her hands and saw they glowed like embers. The detective turned her head to the side with her eyes closed as the demon neared her. Then, silence sliced through the room again. When she glanced up, the demon was gone. No ashes or body left behind. It was just _gone_!

Her hands still ached with the burning licks of the glowing, dull fire at her hands. She tried to take a deep breath, but with her cracked ribs, she could only sit there in the war of agony her body waged. Her hands didn't feel as if they were burning, but they were tight and acutely sharp as the embers refused to go away.

The same fear lurched itself over her body. _She_ , a once human detective, had done this. She'd killed the creature with only the touch of her hands. She'd been dying, her life feebly attempting to hang on as she dangled in front of the beast, but it was the demon that had died. Her tears fell more rapidly as she stumbled to stand up, not wanting to touch anything. She touched the inside of her wrists to the cold faucet knob to the sink and watched the water pour down. Chloe panicked and shoved her hands underneath the running water, but it did little to quiet the fire.

 _Fear_ , her body sang. She needed to calm down – if that was even possible. Not even realizing Lucifer really was the devil had sparked such terror in her. As she exhaled quickly, her breath shuddered. The detective turned to the freezer and used her wrist to struggle with the door, eventually opening it. The ice collector was sitting right in front of her face. Without thinking, Chloe shoved her hands into the tray, the hiss of her heated touch crisping in the depths of the frigid container.

The frosty touch of coldness snapped her nerves back into control. She struggled to take a comfortable breath, but her heart finally began to slow enough to feel the fiery embers give into the cold. "Shit, shit, shit," she cursed, muttering other unintelligible words and phrases to herself. She withdrew her hands and inspected them. They were angry and red, but not blistered or damaged like she'd thought they would be.

Chloe's whole body shuddered. At least, for the moment, she was calming down enough to think clearly. She needed a plan. If there were others around, there was no way she could coherently survive another attack with her frame of mind right now. So, she tallied up all the facts in her head to encourage the calm to settle and control to wash over her.

The demon had been in her house. She didn't know how long, but it had been in her house all the same. This attack was vastly different from her first encounter – where she'd been thrown across the hospital floor like a ragdoll and therefore rendered useless against the monster. She'd fought back. Whatever weapon it had attacked her with had wounded her.

"The stove," she winced. She needed to turn it off. So she did, slowly by turning each of the four knobs. The heat of the oven and the smell of burning permeated every inch of the front of the house. Her legs ached – screamed at her to allow a moment's rest. She didn't give in. Chloe needed to stand and evaluate the situation carefully.

While the demon had her in its grasp, she'd been churning a wild dose of fear in her mind – in her soul. The emotion had ground its way throughout her bloodstream and had taken her hostage. She'd heard a voice – _inside_ her head. The language was not recognizable. Finally, as the creature was dying, she'd seen quick flashes of faces appearing to be tortured or something. There was a lot of endless gray – a void of all color around. There'd been a long stretch of doors with chains on them. Where had that been?

And that was how Chloe Decker realized that her life would never be the same again.

 **O**

The water still ran in the background. The heat the oven created still lingered softly in the air, the taste of it hovering over and all around her. She stared at the floor of the kitchen, her inflicted back leaning against the cabinets. Everything was peaceful again, but her thoughts were the danger in the area.

She couldn't touch anyone again – not until she understood what was happening. She couldn't touch her daughter's cheek as she slept peacefully in the hospital bed. She couldn't take Lucifer's hand. She couldn't do anything. The walls felt like they'd crumbled all around her. Was she turning into a monster? Would she become a demon? Would she be taken to hell – away from her family and life here on earth? Was _this_ how Lucifer felt this whole time?

Her cell phone dropped to the floor, dancing against the hard wood as it vibrated. It didn't disturb her internal agony. If God had created her to be a miracle, would he punish her for falling in love with the ruler of hell? Was this the price of that love? If she was supposed to be in Lucifer's life from the beginning of her life, what purpose was there to allow her to believe she had any free will at all?

Tears fell from her blue eyes. Was this all she was? Was she only supposed to be the plaything Lucifer had warned her about? _Were_ her feelings staged? False? Chloe knew the answer to those questions. They all led her to believe a firm _no_. The surprise of falling in love with Lucifer couldn't be faked. Her life with Dan had proven that to her.

She'd loved Dan. He'd given her the best thing in her life – Trixie. Their relationship had always been strained. Between his romance with his work and her dedication to motherhood, they were always supposed to fail in the way they had. In some ways, Chloe had called it all before she'd been married. Her father had taught her that love was worth working at, and she would never regret her marriage to Dan. He was quite possibly her best friend. She would always love him.

Lucifer hadn't given her anything. He'd been selfish right from the very first words they shared at Lux beside the piano. He was crude, often crass and lewd, and quite cheeky (yes, she actually just used that word). He was the fun Chloe never had. He challenged her pragmatic principles and dared to challenge her patience on their cases. He'd never been committed to anything or anyone.

Until he was.

Chloe couldn't pinpoint the exact moment she knew he was someone she could count on. Perhaps not completely, but he'd always helped her through her problems in his own way. He'd spent the better majority of their time together hiding his problems in what she thought were metaphors from her. There were still things she didn't know.

The detective could be more herself with Lucifer than with anyone else. With Dan, she had to be more…responsible and accountable. He hadn't always been so available to Trixie and her. Someone needed to give Trixie their undivided attention – something she'd always wanted from her own mother. Thinking on the maddening woman, Chloe noted that her mother had never allowed her to be a child. Her mother was more of a child in theory. After all these years, Chloe still didn't know who she truly was. Lucifer introduced her to who that was.

Her phone vibrated against the floor again. Someone was calling her. Despite wanting to answer, she found she couldn't move. The tears kept falling, uncontrollable at this point. A car screeched to a halt, sounding like it drifted to a stop against the nearby curb. It was only then that she realized that her blood had created a small puddle around her. Her clothes were drenched and wet and sticky and warm. Why hadn't the bleeding stopped? The detective glanced down at her arms and realized that her cheek was bleeding, too. The cuts didn't feel deep at all.

Chloe still couldn't move. The front door burst open with ease as Lucifer nearly tripped over himself as he search the house for her. She heard him shout her name, but the sound was distant. She realized she could hear the whispers again. Her whole body felt cold and stiff – probably due to the blood loss.

She heard screaming and felt the pain as more images flashed before her mind. This time, the image became real. She walked in an endless gray hallway covered only by dark clouds above. Doors surrounded her on both sides of the hall. When she made to speak, her voice was neutered and quiet. All too suddenly, something pulled her against the door and pinned her against it. It was Lucifer in his burned and scarred red form. His eyes bled with fire and sadistic temptation as he punched his hand into her belly, piercing through everything and exiting through the other side of her body. His arm retracted and he felt her neck snap.

The vision ended all too quickly, and she opened her eyes wide. Lucifer was on the ground, his arm extended toward her. He was shaking and looked like he was in pain. A single tear rippled from her left eye and down her cheek, but it felt too thick and hot. Chloe used her shaking hand to wipe it away, but paused when she saw the tear was blood. She noticed her hands were still pink and agitated.

Coughing, Chloe stammered, "L-Lucifer…you have…to get out of…here…away from me!"

He lifted his head up, his neck twitching as he struggled to look at her. He held her eyes with a sad smile. "Not a chance, detective!" he swore. His head turned toward the couch, and he stumbled to stand and reach it. She couldn't see what he was doing, but he eventually came back to her with the blade that she'd torn from the demon. "You need to turn around for me, Chloe! I know how to make the bleeding stop," he promised.

But she couldn't move. Her whole body was firmly planted where it was. She realized she couldn't move her legs and that her head felt faint and fuzzy. The blood loss was more severe than she thought. "I'm dying, aren't I?" she quietly murmured. When he reached her, she was careful to keep her hands away from him.

His eyes were heavy, but not with sadness anymore. Determination infected those dark eyes that captivated her so much. Lucifer brought a hand to her cheek and rubbed even though his hand touched her blood. He smirked as he stroked her aimlessly. "I won't let you, detective," he vowed.

He'd said that to her on their first unofficial case together – when she'd been shot in that recording room. She managed a faint smile at the memory. As she breathed, she felt her lungs starting to give out. She heaved, "Lucifer, I…I love you." Chloe wanted nothing more than to touch him, to feel him one more time.

Lucifer bent down and kissed her softly, gently. This kiss consumed all of her, but she cried out in pain softly as he moved her body away from the cabinets toward him. "I know, Chloe," he comforted, the timber of his voice soft and delicate over her mouth. The detective felt him rub his wrist along the long wound on her back, slowly and carefully. "This blade was made from a feather from my wings, detective. I have used it over the years to punish people in hell. I'm not sure where the demon found it, but I assure you you'll never be hurt by another demon again," he added.

Her energy picked up somewhat. She never left his gaze, but she felt the small puddle of blood dry and travel back up her body until she felt the wound seal up. Her clothes were still sticky and stiff from the blood, but she felt whole again. Despite the averted crisis, her ribs were still cracked, and her hands writhed in tension. "I want to touch you so badly, Lucifer," she admitted. Her eyes flickered down to her hands. "I thought I'd lost you," she whispered. "I couldn't bear to never see you again."

He surprised her when he took her hand. When she started to sluggishly pull away, he held them both in his own hands bravely. "I'm not sure I understand _what_ , exactly, I saw when I first came in, but I saw what happened, Chloe. I felt everything you did in that moment," he explained. He swallowed. "Perhaps Dad thought it comical to bestow you with the gift of empathy to counter my lack of it," he bitterly muttered as he guided her back against the cabinet. He held her gaze, breaking only for a moment to look upward as he rolled his eyes. When his dark hues returned back to her, he shook his head and sighed, "It's only a quick guesstimation."

Chloe wanted to laugh. She didn't know why. She just knew she wanted to. "I will never understand any of this," she said, her lips lazily stretching into a small grin. Lucifer kissed her quickly and stood up, making efforts to unbuckle his pants and cast off his jacket. "What are you doing?" she nervously asked, using her hands to sit up a bit more.

He paused only for a moment. He quizzically peered down at her with a raised brow. "You can't stand on your own, and you're covered in blood. I'm going to take care of you, detective," he reasoned. His eyes suggested his intentions should be obvious to her.

They weren't. Clearly. Chloe clenched her hands. "By getting naked?" she nearly squealed.

"You can't expect me to help you bathe in my clothes, detective?"

"W-what?" she squirmed. She tried to stand, to prove a point to him, but her body just slumped back down. _Shit, shit, shit_ , her mind reeled.

He offered her a sad frown. "Believe me, detective, that I will be in more pain than you. This will be hell on earth, but it must be done," he resolved. He closed and locked the front door in only his unbuckled pants. As he turned to her, he slid off his pants and his briefs in one fluid motion.

"Oh, no," she groaned. She was in trouble.

 **O**


End file.
